


Singing In the Pain

by ARtheBard



Series: JEmily Forever [25]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 04:25:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12004974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARtheBard/pseuds/ARtheBard
Summary: Ten people with no obvious connection to each other have been murdered in 7 months in the Norfolk area. To draw out the killer Emily and Reid must go undercover. Add in an old nemesis of Emily's being involved in the investigation and the team must solve this case before the killer claims another victim or before another wedge divides the team permanently.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this right before the start of Season 8. My name for the story at the time was The Silence of Sounds. Then it was announced the first episode of Season 8 would be called The Silencer and I thought it was too similar. Great minds thinking alike, right? Lol

“Imelda,” Garcia says.

“Marcos,” JJ and Emily respond immediately.

“Okay. Aileen,” the analyst says.

“Wuornos,” the profilers answer.

“Geez, fine. Umm…Ethel! Can’t find anything wrong with Ethel!” she says confidently.

“Rosenberg,” the Prentiss women answer.

“Plus that would not flow with Amy,” JJ points out.

“Okay, fine, but can I just point out two things. One: it really, really sucks trying to find a name not attached to death and ickiness. And B) Amy is   _not_  an easy name to flow into. You all might be screwed. You will have little baby ‘Questionmark Amy Prentiss’.”

Emily and JJ both laugh at that thought.

“Well, celebrities give their kids strange names. Why not us?” Emily says.

“Oh, Emily, your mother would not only drop you from the social register she would make you disappear,” Garcia warns.

“True,” Emily agrees, still laughing.

Before any more name suggestions get tossed out, JJ’s call waiting beeps. “Uh, hate to cut this off, Pen, but Hotch is calling. Check with you later.”

“Right. I’ll be brainstorming and Googling names.”

JJ just laughs and switches over. “Hey, Hotch.”

“Okay, Dave and I are dying to know what you two are laughing about.”

“See, Hotch, this is why it sucks not being on the jet. You are missing all the baby name fun.”

He chuckles. “Oh. Not what we thought.”

“Uh, dare we ask?”

“No, it would definitely be safer for Dave if you didn’t. So, any decisions on names?”

“We know if it’s a girl her middle name will be Amy. Just need to find the first name,” JJ answers.

“And if it’s a boy?” Rossi chimes in.

Emily chuckles. “Jen didn’t like my suggestion of Aaron David Morgan Spencer Prentiss. Not my fault, guys.”

Rossi and Hotch both laugh. “Maybe we don’t have that profiler position filled yet, after all,” Hotch jokes.

“Ha ha. That job is mine and if it isn’t I’ll get Garcia to do a ‘thing’, Hotch,” JJ threatens.

He laughs. “Yeah, I can see you doing that. And her being happy to oblige. So, what names did she suggest?”

“Imelda, Aileen, and Ethel,” JJ tells him.

“Marcos, Wuornos, and Rosenberg,” Hotch replies.

“Very good, Hotch!” Emily praises, impressed.

“You forget how young Jack is. Trust me…I had the same hang-ups. Hailey was ready to just name him Hotchner Hotchner.”

The other 3 agents laugh. “Look, I actually also had a case-related reason to call. One of the victims was a Navy petty officer. NCIS recognizes it’s our case but they want to talk to us and make sure we know what we’re doing. I’d like you two to meet with the agent in charge, Mack Brewster. Let him come onto the task force if he wants but try to convince him we’ll take care of everything. The last thing we need is more people trying to get us to rush out a profile.”

“Right, Hotch. We’ll take care of it.”

“Good. I’ll have Garcia send you the address. You all go straight there. We’ll meet you at the precinct when you’re done.”

“Sounds good,” JJ says.

“Oh, and, agents?” Hotch continues.

“Yes?”

“Diane?”

Emily and JJ exchange a look. “Downs,” they say simultaneously.

Hotch laughs. “You two are tough. Good luck!”

He clicks off. JJ stares out the window for a moment then turns to her wife.

“We’re going to have to name her ‘Questionmark’, aren’t we?”

Emily chuckles. “Nah. We’ll come up with something.”

“I hope so. Hey! Maybe Roxanne so she can still be Rocky!” JJ suggests excitedly.

Emily grits her teeth. “My daughter will not be called Rocky after she is born.”

JJ laughs. “Says she who called our son Lima Bean for the first 3 months of his life.”

Emily chuckles. “I changed to Champ or Henry.” Pause. “Eventually,” she says with a grin.

“Riiiight. I believe it was the whole ‘cut off for life’ threat that helped.”

Emily gets an evil grin on her face. “So remember that when Rocky is born.”

JJ grins smugly. “Like you could give this up,” she gestures to herself.

Emily blurts out a laugh. “Ooooo! Someone is feeling very full of herself since she became a bad ass profiler.”

“Yes, yes I am.” JJ agrees, a big grin on her face.

Emily just shakes her head, incredibly proud and hopelessly in love with the woman beside her.


	2. Chapter 2

JJ and Emily make their way onto Oceana to the administration building where they will be meeting with NCIS Agent Mack Brewster. As they walk in, Emily looks at JJ.

“Go ahead and announce us. Rocky has to go potty,” she says with a grin.

JJ chuckles. “Right. Go on.”

Emily heads to the bathroom as JJ makes her way to room 114. It is actually a suite of offices with one receptionist sitting out in front of them.

“Hello, I’m Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. My colleague and I have an appointment with Mack Brewster.”

The lady scans her list. “Ah, yes, one moment please.” She lifts her phone. “Agent Brewster, the FBI agents are here. Well, one is at least.” Pause. “Yes, I’ll tell her.”

“Agent Brewster will be right out. And your colleague is…?”

“SSA Emily Prentiss. She needed to stop in the ladies room. She’ll be here in a moment.”

“Ah, okay.”

JJ turns as an office door opens behind her. Out of it steps a beautiful woman. Tall, brunette, brown nearly black eyes, confident.

“ _God…she’s an Emily clone_ ,” JJ thinks to herself.

The woman extends her hand. “Agent Jareau? Mackenzie Brewster.”

“Good to meet you, though I wish it was under better circumstances.”

Mack nods. “Me, too. I understood there were—Oh. My. God.”

Her face is frozen in shock as she stares beyond JJ. The blonde agent turns and sees her wife with an equally stunned look on her face. Emily recovers first, though JJ can see the smile is forced.

“Mack! Uh, hi. I didn’t realize…I mean…Brewster…and I thought you…uh…”

JJ is stunned. Her wife had never been this at a loss for words. She turns to the other agent, who now has a cruel, predatory look in her eyes.

“Good to see you, Emily. It’s been what, 15 years?”

“Um, yeah. About that.” Emily thinks to herself. “ _Not fucking long enough you ignorant shit_.”

Mack flashes a smile at JJ. “Emily and I went to Yale together. We were always 1-2 in our classes, though I think I was number 1 more than she was in many ways.”

Emily grits her teeth, mad this woman can still get to her. “Well, who hangs their hat on old accomplishments? I personally have better things to judge my life on than old school day competitions.”

Mack raises an eyebrow. “Yes, I’m sure you do.” She gestures to her office. “Shall we, Agents?”

JJ nods and heads into the office. It would be obvious even to Henry that there is a great deal of tension between Emily and Mack. JJ prays the NCIS agent doesn’t want to join the small task force.

Mack takes her place behind the large desk in the office. JJ immediately notices the lack of knickknacks and personal items in the office.

“I take it this isn’t your normal office?” she says to break the tension.

“No. I’m usually up at the Navy Yard in DC. I’m just down here due to this murder. Helps to have a place to call ‘home’ on these types of investigations so we all use this as a de facto home base at Oceana.”

JJ nods. “Good idea. So, what exactly—”

“So, Emily, I hear you took down Ian Doyle,” Mack says, ignoring JJ’s attempt to get down to business.

Emily nods. “Yes, I did. Once. And then my team finished him for good.”

Mack nods. “Yes, that’s right. Seems a little careless for an FBI agent to get snatched up like that. Don’t they teach you all to watch your backs?”

Emily glares at the woman but JJ is the one that answers.

“Watch it, Brewster! Most of the case is classified and I doubt you have the clearance to read the file name, let alone what actually happened.”

Mack stares at JJ a moment. She sees that it is more than just one agent protecting another. She sees the angry gleam that can only mean love. She flicks a glance to the agent’s left hands. Though the wedding bands aren’t identical she sees the similarities in them. JJ sees the recognition dawn.

“Shit,” JJ thinks though her face betrays nothing.

“So, Mack, divorced?” Emily asks, trying to get the attention off of JJ.

Mack turns to Emily. “Yes. Guess that’s why you were so surprised to see me.”

“Well, that and last I heard you were trying to be a good lawyer. Guess that didn’t work out so well for you,” she says with a snarky voice.

Mack colors. “I left because I wanted to do something before the assholes got arrested. The NCIS job seemed interesting.”

“And I guess prior arrests don’t disqualify you like it does at the FBI,” Emily states.

The two brunettes are staring daggers at each other. JJ thinks words could change to weapons before much longer. She clears her throat.

“Okay, enough with the pissing contest, ladies. You hate each other, fine. But we’re here about people who have been robbed of their lives. Agent Brewster, we would be happy to keep you informed of all developments, specifically those involving Petty Officer Amerson.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Mack interrupts.

“Why not?” JJ asks warily.

Mack grins at Emily. “I’ve decided it’s in the best interest of the Navy for me to have an active roll in the investigation.” She turns to JJ. “Why don’t you ride with me to the precinct you will be using and fill me in.”

“NO!” Emily says sharply.

Mack grins victoriously. “Still the jealous type, I see, Emily. I’m sure it’s up to Agent Jareau what she does. I mean, you don’t have a claim on her or anything, do you?”

JJ can feel the tension radiating off her wife. She reaches over and lays a hand on Emily’s arm. She whispers. “Think of Rocky, honey. This shit isn’t worth the stress.”

Mack is surprised to see Emily start to calm. She was sure the woman had been ready to snap. Well, won’t take too many more buttons before she can watch the fireworks. JJ turns back to Mack.

“Sounds like a good idea. Let’s get going.”

The three agents stand and move to the door. Outside Emily is glad their vehicles aren’t parked near each other. Before she gets to the SUV her phone is out.

“Garcia, I need everything you can get on NCIS Agent Mackenzie Brewster, maiden name Cook.”

“Okay. And is she a suspect?”

“She’s an old Yale acquaintance that likes to one up me. And based on the looks she gave JJ I think she’s got her sights set on driving a wedge between us.”

Garcia had been typing normally. Now her typing hits Warp 9. “Oh, the hell she will! What are we looking for.”

“I want to know why she stopped being an attorney. I don’t buy her excuse of wanting to stop the bad guys. She’s full of shit; always has been.”

“Okay. As soon as I have anything I’ll get it to you. Should I copy anyone else?”

Emily thinks a moment. “Yeah. Morgan. I don’t want to be the only one watching out for JJ.”

“Whoa…she really has you fucked up, Em,” Garcia says with concern.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve called your wife ‘JJ’ twice now. Honey, I say this as a friend, calm down for Rocky’s sake, okay?”

Emily takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Shit. Jen told me the same thing. Thing is, I won’t call her ‘Jennifer’ in front of Mack. I won’t let her see that intimacy. Does that make sense or am I an idiot?”

Garcia smiles. “Makes sense to me, Princess. I’ll make sure JJ knows that the change is love not stress.”

Emily chuckles. “Thanks, Pen. You’re the best.”

“Back atcha, Emster.”

* * *

 

In the other SUV, JJ starts to run down everything the team knows so far. Mack reaches over and puts a hand on JJ’s thigh.

“You all don’t know much. I already know that. What I want to know is who Emily finally married?”

JJ lifts the hand off her thigh and drops the armrest between the two seats before laying the offending hand on it.

“Let’s cut the crap. I know my title says ‘Communications Liaison’ but as of July 1 I will officially be a profiler. Unofficially, I already am. Have the creds, the position just isn’t open yet. That said I saw the look in your eyes when you saw our rings. Add in this power play of getting me into your car instead of Emily’s and I know you’re trying to pull me into some twisted little game. So here’s your only warning: try to cause problems with me and Emily, or Emily and the team, or Emily and her pet cat, pretty much cause Emily any sort of undue stress, and you will find out just how skilled in hand-to-hand combat I am. Got it?”

Mack chuckles. “Wow. A little tiger. Guess I know who wields the whips and chains in your relationship. Never suspected Emily would be a submis—”

“Finish that fucking statement and I will make sure you are removed from this case. And I will make sure a charge of sexual harassment prevents your advancement in your agency and any other place you ever wish to apply. We’re here to stop a murderer, not deal with a narcissistic, immature agent.”

The rest of the ride is made in silence. JJ is fuming, but hides it well since her ears are covered by her hair. Mack is also miffed. If she’s not careful, this petite blonde will ruin her chance to have fun tormenting Emily. It seems Emily’s career has been the one she wanted. Mack’s has not. But the chance to humiliate Emily in front of not only her FBI team but her wife could make all the pain and frustration feel a little better.


	3. Chapter 3

Morgan flips his phone closed and looks at Hotch.

“That was Emily. The NCIS agent decided to join in on the fun.”

“Great.”

“Oh, it gets better, Hotch.” He glances around to make sure no one can hear. “Turns out this woman went to Yale with Emily and they were always competing with each other. Looks like Brewster hasn’t grown up yet. Emily swears she’ll be professional but she is pretty sure this agent is going to try to make her look bad in front of us.”

Hotch raises an eyebrow. “Never going to happen. She steps near the line her ass is gone. We don’t need high school bullshit in the middle of a murder investigation.”

“Exactly. Emily also wanted me to tell you she’ll be calling her wife JJ, not Jen.”

Hotch nods. “Smart move. Okay, let the others know to be wary of anything disparaging she says about Emily. They should not only ignore it, but also not react to it, either.”

Morgan nods. “Right.”

He heads off to let Rossi and Reid know about the snake being invited into the nest. A few minutes later he gets a text from Garcia.

“ _Hello my favorite cup of cocoa_.” He grins. _“Emily wanted you to have this info so you can help keep an eye on the agent joining us from NCIS. She wants to make sure she’s not the only one with knowledge of this bitch and she wants to make sure nothing happens to JJ. Check you later!”_

He opens the file she sent and glances over it. He’ll read it more in depth later but the many job switches speak of someone either unable to connect to her co-workers or unable to do the job. He’ll work a profile up on her later. Right now, 10 victims needed his attention. He shoots back a message to Garcia.

“ _Thanks, Baby Girl. I’ll protect our happy couple_.”

Ten minutes later, Emily walks in closely followed by JJ and a woman that could be Emily’s twin. Morgan can’t help but think Emily forgot to mention that on purpose. Emily turns to the woman.

“Agent Brewster, this our unit chief Aaron Hotchner. And these are SSA’s Derek Morgan, David Rossi and Dr. Spencer Reid. Our technical analyst Penelope Garcia will be in touch with us periodically via phone and computer.” She raises an eyebrow pointedly. “She can track down anything on anyone so no one’s secrets will be safe with her to help us.”

Mack grins at the challenge then turns to Hotch and extends her hand. “Chief Hotchner, I hope I’m not stepping on any toes by wanting to be involved with the case. The Navy takes it personally when any of our brave men or women are murdered.”

He nods. “Understood. We’ll be happy to have you here in an advisory role for the Amerson portion of the investigation.”

“Now, don’t feel like I won’t be happy to help with the others, too. Sadly, those victims are attached to mine and anything I can do to bring the killer to justice is what I’m here for.”

Hotch nods. “Thank you. Then I trust this will be a smooth investigation with no inter-agency…or other…bullshit.”

Mack raises an eyebrow. She glances at Emily, then back to Hotch. “Of course it will.”

“Good.”

He turns to go back to the files he had been reviewing when she came in. Mack glances at Emily, who simply nods.

“ _Told your boss, Emily_ ,” Mack thinks to herself. “ _There was a time you could take me yourself. Has the blonde dom really made you that submissive? Will be fun to find out_.”

For the next hour the agents pour over the case files that had been waiting for them. Emily is mid-way through a coroner’s report of victim number 3 when her personal phone rings. She glances at the caller ID and then steps towards the hall as she answers.

“Hallo? Dies ist Emily Prentiss.”

As she walks into the hallway, JJ looks at a confused Morgan. “German,” she explains.

“Ah, okay.”

Mack grins, her eyes still on her report. “She still speaks a bunch of languages?”

Reid nods. “Yes. Her skills have come in quite handy over the years.”

“Worked well for her in college, too. She could speak to her various girlfriends in other languages so they never suspected,” she looks up and locks eyes with JJ, “she was cheating on them.”

JJ raises an eyebrow. “Good thing she grew up, then. Unlike some people.”

The male FBI agents have to hide their grins at the subtle smack. Mack blushes and goes back to her report. JJ grins smugly and sets hers down to go listen to Emily’s side of the phone call.

In the hallway, Emily speaks with the doctor in charge of Tom’s treatment.

“Wie ist er?” She listens a few minutes. “Gut! Werden sie es schaffen?” She listens a little longer. “Gut, gut.” She listens again, nodding when she finally answers. “Ja, alles muss er. Vielen Dank, Arzt. Auf Wiedersehen.”

She sighs in relief and leans back against the wall.

“Em?” JJ asks nervously.

Emily turns to her and smiles. “Tom’s responding well to the treatment. The doctors are sure they can stop the spread of the cancer and reduce the chances for a relapse. They wanted to make sure I was really okay with aggressive treatments that are rather expensive. I don’t give a damn about the money. I just want Tom to be okay.”

JJ smiles. “I know, Em. I know.”

Emily glances back towards the conference room. “I’ll be calling you ‘JJ’ in front of her. I don’t want her to start calling you ‘Jen’ just to piss me off. Because, in all honesty, it will.”

JJ chuckles. “I understand. Just know I’ve got her number, baby. And no matter what she says or does, you’ve got my heart. And really, that’s all that matters.”

Emily smiles and it reaches her eyes for the first time since they saw Mack back at the Naval base. “I love you, JJ. I apologize now if I turn into an ugly green jealous beast.”

JJ smiles. “I know. But if I call you ‘Shrek’ I expect you to check your attitude.”

Emily laughs. “Deal, Mrs. Prentiss. Definitely a deal.”

The two head back to the conference room to get back to work on the cases. Hotch looks at Emily.

“All okay?”

Emily nods. “Yes, sir. Things are looking really good.”

He smiles. “Good to hear.”

Mack looks at Emily. “Care to share?”

Emily turns and looks at her. “Nope. Not at all.”

She goes back to the folder in her hand as her team again hides their grins. It is that point that Mack realizes Emily has warned them all about her vendetta against their teammate.

“ _Good…I love a challenge_ ,” she thinks as she, too, goes back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emily’s side of the German conversation per Babylon translator: How is he?; Good! Will it work?; Good, good.; Yes, anything he needs. Thank you, Doctor. Goodbye.


	4. Chapter 4

At 7:30 Hotch sighs. “Okay, we have a preliminary profile of the victims but we need more. Tomorrow we re-interview family and friends. Somehow their paths crossed we just need to know how and where.” He looks around. “Agent Brewster, would you like to participate with the interviews?”

She nods. “Yes, of course. Agent Jareau and I could—”

Hotch interrupts her. “Actually, I’d like you and Agent Rossi to do the interviews with Petty Officer Amerson’s friends and co-workers. Rossi has a military background and has had a lot of success getting out information that may have been missed.”

She reluctantly nods and forces a smile at Rossi. “Of course. It will be an honor to work with you, Agent Rossi.”

He tips his head to her. “The honor will be mine, Agent Brewster.” He thinks to himself. “ _And it will be fun to profile you. Sneaky, Aaron. Very sneaky_.”

Hotch nods at Rossi, knowing the man has understood the true reason for the pairing. Hotch looks at the others.

“Morgan, JJ, go see the parents and roommate of Melanie Peters and Fred Surrat. As the most recent victims they may have the best insight into where the victims crossed with the unsub.” He looks at Emily and Reid. “I’d like you two to go see the families of the first two victims: John Penn and Larinda Bray. I’ll start dealing with the local members of the task force and making sure any and all media questions are directed through us. So far we’re ahead of the media curve on this. Let’s keep it that way. No leaks. Understood?” Those around him nod. “Good. Let’s get out of here.”

Emily and JJ head to their SUV. Mack catches up to them outside. “So you warned your team about me I see, Emily. Are you still that scared of me?”

Emily laughs before she can stop herself. “Scared of you? Since when? You were the one that made our time at Yale a competition. Hell, I didn’t even know about it until you stole my girlfriend sophomore year. You’re just not that important to me, Mack. You never did understand that. Come on, JJ, let’s get some rest.”

Mack just glares at the two agents as the get into their SUV and drive away. In their own SUV, Morgan and Reid exchange a glance.

“Emily looked okay,” Reid says.

Morgan slowly shakes his head. He had seen the fire in his best friend’s eyes. “Looked it for Mack. But the woman has her pissed.” He looks at Reid. “Keep an eye on Em tomorrow. If Mack starts messing with her head don’t let her forget who matters. Remind her we love her and know who she really is.”

Reid smiles and nods. “I will. And I will also remind her that Rocky doesn’t need the added stress. That may help more than her thinking about us.”

Morgan laughs as he starts the vehicle. “Yeah, that’s true. Let’s go, Pretty Boy. Sonic okay for dinner?”

“What is your obsession with that place?” Reid asks incredulously.

“Hey, it’s Sonic and not anchovy pizza. Which would you prefer?”

Reid laughs. “Okay, you win. I’m probably getting off better than JJ tonight.”

* * *

 

JJ stares at Emily in shock. “Really? You swear? You’re not just teasing me?”

Emily chuckles. “No, I’m not teasing you. That’s what Rocky wants.”

JJ leans down and speaks to Emily’s stomach. “Thank you, Rocky. My love for you just increased 10 fold. And that was pretty hard since I love you so much anyway.”

Emily laughs and pulls into the Chili’s To Go parking. JJ runs inside and places their orders for one Steak Quesadilla and one Chicken Quesadilla. At this point, JJ would have agreed to anything as long as it wasn’t some sort of fish. Heading back out with their meals, she sees Emily scrolling through something on her phone.

“What’s that?” she asks as she gets in.

“The background I had Garcia run on Mack.”

JJ looks at her in surprise. “Really? Why would you bother?”

Emily looks over and sees JJ is pissed. “Honey, her anger and bitterness is off even for Mack. Something is going on in that head of hers and I want to know who I’m dealing with. Morgan has this info, too, and I had him let Hotch and the guys know about Mack.”

JJ grins. “That’s why Hotch put her with Rossi. He’ll have her profiled in 5 minutes.”

Emily chuckles. “Yep. Look, I don’t think she’s a danger to me or you but I don’t want to let an unsub walk because she lets the personal shit interfere with the case. I swear that’s the only reason I want to know as much as I can about her.”

JJ raises an eyebrow. “Really? The only reason?”

Emily stares at her a moment, then rolls her eyes. “Shit, Jen, you know I trust you. Even if she is stupid enough to try a pass at you I know you can put her in her place. In fact, I’d guess you probably already have. I doubt she went that whole drive without trying something.”

JJ smiles and takes her wife’s hand. “You’re right, she did. And you’re right, I did. So, is she going to mess with your stress level?”

Emily shrugs. “Can’t promise she won’t push a button or two but I promise to keep an eye on my blood pressure for Rocky. Okay?”

JJ kisses the hand she holds. “Good. I love you, Emily.”

“I love you, too, Jen.”

When they get into their hotel room, JJ calls Francesca on speaker phone. “Hi, Francesca. Did we miss him?”

Francesca sighs. “Yes, I am afraid you did. He was very tired today after exploring his new walking ability.”

JJ grins. Over the weekend Henry had finally started walking more than just a few steps at a time. They were all thrilled since he had starting crawling a little late but at 13 months he was on track with walking.

“He is one mischievous little bambino,” Francesca continues. “He is doing his best to figure out how to open the baby gates leading to the staircases and the adult activity room. Something tells me he wants to learn to play darts like his mommy.”

JJ laughs. Emily shakes her head in amusement. “Great. He’ll be winning free drinks in bars before we know it. Nice job, Jen.”

JJ grins proudly. “That’s my boy!”

“Oy,” Emily mutters. “Well, Francesca, have a good evening. We’re going to eat dinner and then watch a little TV. Things are going to start going crazy tomorrow.”

“You ladies be carefully. If you come home all bruised up again I will take you over my knee as Mrs. Sandy always threatens.”

JJ laughs. Emily takes her hand. “Honey, she means it.”

“Si, cara, I do,” Francesca confirms.

“Ah, okay then. Love you, Francesca.”

“Love you, too, cara. Buona notte.

“Goodnight, Francesca,” Emily adds as JJ ends the call.

Emily turns on the TV as they start to eat. They enjoy an old episode of “Friends.” JJ stares at the woman guest staring at Joey’s girlfriend and chuckles.

“Geez, how many people look like you, Em?”

Emily frowns at the short-haired woman on the screen. “What do you mean? She doesn’t look like me.”

“Oh, come on! Lengthen her hair and she’s you!”

Emily stares then shakes her head. “Sorry, honey, just not seeing it.”

JJ chuckles. “Well trust me, honey: Kathy is your triplet.”

Emily shrugs. “If you say so. But trust me…couldn’t pay me enough to kiss Joey. Phoebe maybe, but not Joey.”

JJ laughs. “Why not Rachel or Monica?”

Emily leans across the table and pulls JJ into a deep, passionate kiss. When it ends she grins. “You know I have a thing for blondes.”

JJ smiles. “Mmmm…right. Forgot about that. Good thing I like brunettes.”

She kisses Emily again. Without breaking the kiss, Emily stands and pulls JJ to her feet. She undoes the first couple buttons on JJ’s shirt then lifts it up and over her head. Her mouth moves to JJ’s neck as JJ moans, her own hands undoing the button at the back collar of Emily’s blouse and lifting it up over her wife’s head. As Emily’s hand moves to JJ’s bra…the brunette’s cell phone rings.

“Son of a bitch,” Emily mutters.

JJ groans and drops back into her chair as Emily answers her phone. “Prentiss.”

“It’s Hotch. There’s been another murder. Looks like it happened over the weekend but the body was just found. One of the cops on scene told the press it was probably connected with the others.”

“Shit. So now the media is involved.”

“Afraid so. Any chance you can get down to the police station to stop the flood of calls. Call a press conference for the morning.”

“Yes, sir. I’m guessing you’re heading to the scene?”

“Yes. Rossi and I can take care of it. If you get stuck at the station all night I’ll go with Reid on the family interviews.”

“I can do them, too, sir.”

“I know you can. But Rocky needs sleep. You can sneak away for a nap at the hotel.”

Emily rolls her eyes. “Shit, Hotch, are  _all_ of you going to act like expectant parents?”

“Of course. Did you expect any less from us?”

Emily chuckles. “No, I suppose not. Talk to you later.” She disconnects and looks at her wife, who is pulling her sleep shirt on. “Hotch and Rossi are on their way to another murder scene. Responding officer told the media that it was connected to the others.”

“Oh, shit. So much for no leaks.”

“Exactly. I’m heading to the station to deal with the media and arrange a conference for tomorrow morning.” She pulls her blouse back on and starts to get tucked in.

“Need a hand at the station?” JJ offers.

“No, I should be fine. Get some sleep. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day tomorrow for all of us.”

JJ walks over as Emily finishes getting straightened out. She pulls her wife into a kiss. “Make sure you try to rest a bit, baby. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Jen. See you later tonight…or in the morning.”

They share one more kiss before Emily heads out. JJ finishes getting ready for bed. Just before she climbs under the covers to read a little there is a knock at the door. She looks at the clock and sees it is after 10. She rolls her eyes. She has a bad feeling she knows who it is. With a sigh she gets up and moves to the door and looks through the peephole. Yep, it’s Mack. She opens the door.

“Can I help you, Agent?” she asks emotionlessly.

“I was in the lobby and saw Emily leaving. Thought you might want some company,” she says suggestively.

JJ holds up her copy of “Slaughterhouse-Five.” “I’m good, thanks.”

“Ah, Vonnegut. Emily’s favorite author.”

“Yes, he is. She’s the one that got me reading him.”

“Ugh. I can’t stand him. Surprised you’d let your pet dictate who you read.”

JJ’s eyes narrow. “My  _pet_? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Just kidding,” Mack says, though her eyes show she’s not kidding. “So, want to chat? I can let you know all of Emily’s dark Yale secrets.”

“Look, Brewster, I see the game you’re playing. Just so you know, you won’t win. You’d do well to stop trying. Emily and I love each other and we trust each other. Games you two played in your college days are of no interest to me. I’m here to stop a killer. If you don’t have the same goal do us all a favor and go home.”

Before Mack can respond, JJ closes the door, loudly locking it and putting the security chain across it.

In the hallway Mack just smiles. Yes, she always did love a challenge. And winning this challenge is going to be the most satisfying win of all.


	5. Chapter 5

The smell of decomposition hits the agents before they even get off the elevator.

“Got to love central heating,” Rossi quips. Hotch just nods.

Hotch and Rossi fight the immediate gag reflex as they enter the apartment. For at least 5 days the body had lied in there decomposing before the neighbors complained to the building super. An Army veteran, he had recognized the smell before ever opening the apartment door and called the police. The body was in such bad condition it had taken the arrival of the ME to discover the garrote marks and the missing tongue that tied it to the other 10 murders.

The men make their way into the bedroom and examine the body from afar. It appears the woman had been walking out of the bathroom when she was attacked from behind. Once down and dead she had been rolled over and her tongue removed. Hotch gets close and looks at her mouth.

“No cut marks on her lips. Not sure about her cheeks. Another precision extraction from the looks of it,” he says as he stands.

“Surgeon, maybe? Butcher?”

Hotch just shrugs. The two men spread out and study the scene throughout the apartment. Nothing appears disturbed. Rossi finds her purse and cell phone. He makes note of the phone number, texting it to Garcia for her to research tomorrow, then bags the phone for the techs. The woman’s clothes don’t appear to be rifled through. Her electronics and other valuables are still in place. After about an hour searching the agents exchange a look.

“It was an execution not a robbery,” Hotch states.

“And so far no signs of sexual assault. These victims crossed paths with the unsub at some point. He targeted them,” Rossi continues.

“But why? Not even Garcia could find a crossover between the victims. Reid’s geographic profile is as scattered as we expected considering the number of jurisdictions involved. He’s on number 11 that we know of and we still don’t have anything to start tying the victims together.”

Rossi nods. “I know. Hopefully tomorrow’s interviews will bring up something that was missed.”

“Maybe. I’m going to have Garcia run all the businesses the victims worked for. Maybe there is a delivery man or vendor that crosses all 11.”

“That’s a long shot,” Rossi points out.

Hotch glares at him. “Got a short shot for me to try?”

Rossi shakes his head. “Nope. Just spouting stats since Reid isn’t here.”

Hotch actually grins. “Gee. Thanks. You and I will interview her family tomorrow afternoon after we see what the locals come up with. That will give us time to see if anything was missed with the other interviews.”

Rossi nods in agreement. “Why don’t we head to the station and see if Emily needs any help. If nothing else, maybe we can draft a press release for the morning so the little Mommy can get some sleep.”

Hotch chuckles. “Call her that to her face. I dare you.”

Rossi raises an eyebrow. “Do I look like I have a death wish?”

The two men head out to meet up with Emily and help her in any way they can. Though they tease and joke about it, they really are concerned with keeping her healthy for the baby. All the men are excited to become “uncles” to the little Prentiss bundle of joy.

* * *

 

“That’s correct. P-R-E-N-T-I-S-S. Right. 8 a.m. tomorrow.” She listens a moment. “I know that will miss the morning news but the ME has said we won’t get a preliminary report until at least 7:30.” She listens again. “Actually, no we don’t have a name for the unsub. That only glorifies them and can give him or her a false sense of importance. It tends to lead to more bloodshed instead of being helpful. Concentrate on the victims. They deserve to be remembered and honored. The murderer does not deserve to be glorified in any way.” She nods. “Exactly. Thank you. See you tomorrow.”

Emily hangs up and runs a hand down her face. So far she’d talked to the 4 local reporters from the 4 major networks and one from CNN. To all she had stressed focusing on the victims not the killer even though she is pretty sure it’s just a waste of breath. She has just picked up the next message when a shadow falls across the table. She looks up and raises an eyebrow.

“What are you doing here?”

Mack shrugs. “Heard there was another murder. Thought I’d come see if there was anything I can do.”

Emily shakes her head. “Not really. Thanks though.” She picks up the phone and starts to dial. She frowns as Mack hits the disconnect. “Mack, I have a job to do. I don’t feel like playing your games. Eleven people have been murdered. Doesn’t that mean more to you than school days crap?”

Mack stares at Emily. She finally grins. “I forgot. You hate to lose. And you rarely play a game you can’t win.”

Emily rolls her eyes. “Mack, listen to me. I know back in the day I was just as competitive as you once I found out there was even a competition. You played the game a hell of a lot longer than I did because I didn’t even know it was going on at first. Here’s the thing: I’m not who I was back then. I’ve grown up. A lot. I’m sorry you haven’t but that’s for you to deal with. Now, let me do my job before we end up with victim number 12.”

Emily starts to dial again. Just before she hits the last number, Mack speaks.

“I went to visit your wife tonight.”

Emily slowly raises her eyes to Mack. This time there is murder in them. “What?” she asks calmly.

Mack grins. “Yep. Saw you leave. Hated to think of poor little JJ all alone in that big, warm bed. Thought I’d keep her company. She looks like she’d be a real wild ride and- -”

Emily shoots to her feet and grabs Mack by the collar. “Go near her again, even think of her again in any way other than professional and you’ll find out other ways I’ve changed.”

Mack actually looks scared…for a moment. Then she grins. “Looks like I was wrong about who the dom was.”

Emily draws back a fist.

“PRENTISS!” Hotch hollers.

Mack just grins. She had seen Hotch and Rossi arrive and bided her time. Emily realizes she has been set up to look like the aggressor. She shoves Mack away.

“Leave me alone, Mack. I’m here to do a job.” Emily turns and looks at Hotch. “Sorry, sir.”

He nods. “Press conference?”

“8 a.m. Coroner called and said he could have a preliminary report for us by 7:30 to at least confirm this is the work of the same unsub. I’ve spoken to all the local channels and CNN. Have one message from MSNBC that I was about to return when Agent Brewster appeared.”

“Good. Go ahead and call. Once that’s done get some sleep.” She nods. He looks at Mack. “Agent Brewster, a word, please.”

He gestures out of the conference room. She smirks and nods. “Sure, Chief.”

He precedes her down to an open but empty office. He motions for her to enter and follows her in, closing the door behind them. He glares at her.

“I don’t know how you all do things at NCIS but at the FBI we don’t play juvenile games when a murderer is on the loose. You and Prentiss have an issue, deal with it on your personal time not now. If you continue to be a thorn in this investigation you will be removed from it. And if you don’t think I have the power to make that happen try me.”

Mack studies the man. She may not be a full profiler but she can read people. He is not kidding. She manages as sincere a smile as she can.

“Of course, Chief Hotchner. My apologies if I pushed over a line with my old friend. I didn’t realize she had become so touchy over the years.”

Hotch doesn’t believe her for a minute. “This is your only warning.”

She nods as he steps past her and leaves the office. She just grins malevolently. She had no plans to get kicked off the investigation or get in trouble with her boss. But she sure as hell didn’t plan to stop tormenting Emily. It was far too easy and much too fun.

In the conference room, Emily has to take a few breaths before dialing. Rossi takes the time to walk over and hitch a hip up on the table beside her.

“With friends like that…” he states with a grin.

Emily shakes her head. “We were never friends. And she implied…that she…and Jen…I know Jen wouldn’t but…fuck, Mack would try…shit…”

He pats her on the head. “It’s like you tried to say before you got flustered: Jennifer wouldn’t. Hold on to that, Emily. That’s all that matters.”

Emily sighs and nods. “Right. Thanks, Dave. Let me make this call and get out of here. Rocky has finally gotten off her fish kick. Don’t want to make her cranky and get it started again,” she says with a half-grin.

He pats her shoulder and nods. Emily makes the call to the local reporter for MSNBC. Once that is done, she looks at Rossi.

“Tell Hotch I’m out of here.”

He nods. “Will do. And, Emily, don’t let her hurt your relationship with JJ in any way. Keep in mind what’s important and real.”

Emily smiles. “I will, Dave. And if I look like I’m forgetting feel free to pop me upside the head.”

He nods with a grin. “Gladly.”

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Emily slides her keycard into the door. She pushes it and steps in—but slams her face into it as the security chain stops it’s progression.

“Son of a bitch! JEN!” she hollers.

JJ had meant to unchain the door before she went to bed but had obviously forgotten. She leaps out of bed.

“Shit!”

She opens the door to find Emily pinching her nose, blood dripping out of it.

“Oh, shit! Em! Shit!”

She takes her wife’s hand and pulls her into the room and straight into the bathroom. She grabs one of the flannels and wets it with cool water.

“Here, baby, let me.”

Emily removes her hand and lets JJ pinch her nose with the cool cloth. Emily grabs a couple of tissues and wipes the blood off her chin and upper lip. JJ stares into her wife’s eyes.

“I am so sorry. I just…never mind, I can explain later. It doesn’t feel broken.”

“Itsh not,” Emily honks. “Itsh jusht bleeding.”

After a few minutes, JJ removes the flannel. She looks up her wife’s nostrils. “I think it’s stopped now.”

Emily nods and looks in the mirror. She gets some water in her hand and splashes it on her face, erasing the last remnants of blood. The two women watch in the mirror and are finally sure the bleeding has stopped. Emily slowly turns and stares at her wife. JJ is making a point of throwing the flannel away and washing her own hands.

“Jen, I know she came by,” Emily finally says.

JJ sighs. “Shit. Was hoping to tell you in the morning.”

“So you were going to tell me?” Emily presses.

JJ looks up. “Of course!” she says sharply. “Did you think I’d try to hide it?”

“Ye—NO! Not hide it. More like…protect me from it,” Emily corrects when she realizes it sounds like she doesn’t trust JJ. She drops down onto the side of the bathtub. “Bitch came to the precinct after leaving you. I nearly decked her when she hinted that she was planning to bed you.”

“You WHAT? Do you really think I’d—” JJ starts to ask furiously.

Emily interrupts. “NO! Damn it, Jen, you know I don’t think that. But I know the kinds of games she plays. And she thinks…thinks I still play them, too. I don’t. But she may think you do.”

Emily is blushing and looking anywhere but at her wife. JJ recognizes the shame in her eyes.

“Emily, were you into bondage and stuff back then?” she asks quietly.

Emily sighs. “I experimented with it with one girlfriend. Mack stole her away because she really was into it. I mean, I don’t mind a little role playing or some games but I just…just wasn’t into the full on ‘ownership’ aspect of it. It works for some people and that’s great for them. But it just wasn’t for me.”

A light dawns in JJ’s eyes. “Aha. So that’s why she thought I was the dom and you were my pet.”

“WHAT?!” Emily’s face is flush with a combination of anger and embarrassment.

“EM! Calm down, baby,” JJ says, her hands framing Emily’s face. “She is stuck on shit that went down in your early twenties. I know that our relationship is not dom/sub. And even if it was, who cares what she thinks? I love you, sweetheart. And you love me. That’s all that matters. What happens behind our closed doors is our own business.” She leans in and kisses Emily. “Forget about her, Emily. Ignore anything she says about me and her. Know this: I love you and only you. Nothing she says or does will change that.”

Emily brings her hands up and takes her wife’s. “Thank you, Jen. Sorry I got a little crazy for a second. I know what happens in our bedroom isn’t her business. I just hate the thought of her saying something like that in front of the guys.”

JJ smiles. “They won’t care what she says either, honey.”

Emily manages a grin. “Yeah, but why give them dirty ideas about us.”

JJ chuckles and kisses Emily once more. “Come to bed, sweetheart. I want to hold my wife tonight.”

Emily stands and pulls JJ into a hug. “And I want to be held by mine. Sounds perfect.”

Emily quickly gets ready for bed and crawls in. With an early day fast approaching the woman cuddle up and prepare for sleep. Just before she dozes off Emily sighs.

“Jen?”

“Yes, Em?” she answers sleepily.

“Ever chain me out like that again and I’ll send Garcia that picture of you in the blue negligee to put on your new creds.”

Emily smiles as JJ chuckles. “God forbid!” JJ says. She kisses Emily’s forehead and they both drift off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

“At this time agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Naval Criminal Investigative Services are working with local law enforcement officers to come up with a comprehensive profile on the person or persons suspected of murdering 11 people over the last 7 months. As soon as we have finished our preliminary investigation or as soon as we come up with additional information for the public we will call another press conference. I now have time for a few questions,” Emily finishes.

“Why were these people targeted?” one man yells.

“At this time we don’t know. That’s one of the things we will be working to narrow down today. We do ask that any friends or family members of the victims contact us if they can think of something they may have forgotten to tell the police during the first interviews. It is never too late to call us with something you remember.”

“Is it true this man has been killing people all over the United States and that’s why the FBI is involved?” another man calls out.

“At this time we don’t know if the killer is a man or a woman. Additionally, we are here to help the local police with these 11 murders. Currently we have no knowledge of other murders committed by this unknown subject.”

“Is it true there has been a bondage/domination aspect to all the murders?” one woman asks.

“That is completely false. There has been no sign whatsoever of a sexual aspect being part of these murders. To suggest such a thing only hurts the families. Please consider their feelings in this terrible time before asking your questions.”

She looks around but her subtle rebuke seems to have stopped any further questions. She nods.

“Thank you again for your time today. We will be in touch as the investigation progresses. We thank you for your consideration of the families.”

Emily leaves the podium and heads down the hall to the conference room. As she walks in her team, who had been watching on CCTV, start to clap. She blushes.

“What can I say? I learned from the best?” she winks at JJ, who nods her appreciation. She notices Mack does not seem impressed. No loss.

“Well, with that out of the way, you all need to head out and get your interviews done. Rossi, when you and Agent Brewster are done you and I will go see the latest victims’ family.”

Rossi nods. “I understand,” he replies. “ _I understand you’ll want my profile of Brewster_ ,” he thinks to himself.

* * *

 

Emily shows her credentials. “Mrs. Penn, thank you for meeting with us. I’m Emily Prentiss and this is Dr. Spencer Reid with the FBI. We are so sorry for your loss.”

The woman stares at the two agents with distrust. Her son had been dead for 7 months and the case officer had told her it was cold. Who the hell do these people think they are to suddenly show up months later to help? Where had they been when he first died?

Emily and Reid see the emotions play across the woman’s face. They give her time to process their appearance. Finally the lady stares into Emily’s eyes.

“You got kids?”

Emily nods. “Yes. A son named Henry. And I’m expecting another child in the Fall.”

“What would you do if someone killed your kid and the cops said there was no way to figure out who did it? What would you do if some agent then showed up and said maybe they can help if you rip off all the scabs you’d finally started to develop? Tell me, Detective, what would you do?”

Emily’s stomach had nearly erupted at the suggestion of something happening to Henry. She takes a deep breath to steady herself. “I’d rip them off. If…if someone ki—hurt Henry I’d do whatever it took to try to find the person responsible. I don’t care how long had passed. I’d never stop trying to find the answer.”

Mrs. Penn stares into Emily’s eyes. Reid swallows nervously. Emily just stares, her honesty open to the woman. Finally the older lady steps back into her foyer and gestures for the agents to come inside. She leads them into a living room where a pitcher of lemonade sits with 3 glasses. Emily smiles at her.

“You were ready for us?”

The woman shrugs. “Ready if I decided to let you in. Someone other than you had shown up maybe I wouldn’t have.”

Emily nods. “I understand.”

Reid and Emily take a seat on the couch as their host sits in the matching wing chair. Reid lets Emily take the lead since she has managed to connect mother-to-mother with the woman.

“Mrs. Penn, we know all about your son’s work habits but what can you tell us about him? Hobbies, places he liked to visit, games he enjoyed.”

“Why?”

“We are trying to figure out how these victims crossed with the unsub. So far we know it’s not work, it’s not gyms, it’s not stores where they shop. But there has to be something that made this unsub focus on these 11 people,” Emily explains.

Mrs. Penn stares off into space, trying to figure out what she may have not talked about with the detectives that had come to her. Finally she sighs. “John was always so shy. But he could sing like an angel. He really liked this woman he worked with but was too shy to say anything to her. She ended up marrying someone else. He decided there and then he had to make a change. He needed to build his confidence up. So he didn’t tell anyone but me that he started going to this karaoke bar. It has a contest each Friday and the winner gets a free dinner or something. He didn’t care about winning. At first. But he came close a couple times, even had a small group of regulars rooting for him.” She smiles proudly. “He finally won. He was so happy. John called me up and said he was treating me to dinner with his prize. He was so…different. Confident, even.” Tears well in her eyes as the smile fades. “But then he was gone. Won on Friday, dead on Sunday.”

Emily leans forward. “Do you remember the name of this place?”

The woman thinks a moment, then shakes her head. “No. I’m not sure he ever told me.” She smiles sadly. “He was probably worried I’d show up and embarrass him.”

Emily smiles. “I’m sure he’d been happy to see you there. Was he doing anything else to help him deal with his shyness? Seeing a therapist or anything?”

Mrs. Penn shakes her head. “Not that I know of. Wait…he did talk to a…oh, what did he call it…a personal stylist at a men’s store near his house. He started dressing for success as they say.” She leans forward. “Agents, my boy was only 24 years old and he was trying to become a better man. Someone stole that chance from him. Please…please tell me you will find who killed him?”

Emily reaches out and takes her hand. “We will do our best. You’ve given us two great new avenues to investigate. Thank you.”

Mrs. Penn stares at her a moment, then grins. “You didn’t correct me when I called you ‘Detective’ earlier.”

Emily smiles. “I figured you were testing to see if I was a bitch or not.”

Mrs. Penn actually chuckles. “Yes, I was. Good luck with your new baby, Agent Prentiss.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

She walks them out. Reid drives to the next interview as Emily calls Garcia.

“Office of Awesomeness, Priestess Garcia at your service.”

Emily chuckles. “Garcia, you always make me smile. Look, our first victim, John Penn, had been seeing a personal stylist at a local men’s store and he had also been performing at a bar or restaurant that has a weekly contest. Winner gets a certificate for a free dinner. The Friday before he died he won. Think you can find the store and the bar?”

“Did I not say this is the Office of Awesomeness? Of course I can! Hit you back in less than 5.”

“Good. Text me the info when you find it. Timer is running,” Emily teases.

Before Garcia texts back, they arrive at the house of Larinda Bray’s aunt. She had raised the girl from the time she was a teen. The agents approach the door and Reid knocks, hoping to take the lead this time in case Garcia calls Emily back instead of texts.

“Hi, Maggie Ballard? I’m Dr. Spencer Reid and this is Agent Emily Prentiss with the FBI. We’d like to talk to you about Larinda’s life.”

She stares at him. “I have nothing more to say to you or anyone else. She’s dead. I’ve moved on.”

He frowns. “And you don’t care to find out who did it?”

She sighs impatiently. “She turned her back on me several years ago. She got onto drugs soon after she moved in here and I tried to help her as long as I could. I finally had to give up on her. Now her drugs have gotten her killed.”

Reid frowns, reviewing the coroner’s report in his mind. “Ma’am, there were no drugs in her system when she was found.”

Ballard stares at him. “What do you mean?”

“According to toxicology reports there were no drugs or alcohol in her system. Her last meal was fried chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes. The only drink in her system was apple juice. Though there were signs of long-term drug and alcohol abuse on her body and in her organs there was also proof that she had been sober at least 8 months before she died.”

Ballard’s eyes fill with tears. “She was…was sober?”

He nods. “Yes, apparently she was.”

Ballard wipes her face. “She…she called me a month before she died and left a message. Said she wanted to meet with me at a local restaurant. I didn’t even call her back. I just assumed she wanted money.”

Emily frowns. “Do you remember the name of the restaurant?”

Ballard thinks a moment, then shakes her head. “No. No idea. Might remember it if I heard it.”

Emily glances at her phone as a timely text arrives. “Could it have been “The Nightingale”?

The woman thinks a minute. “Uh, yeah, come to think of it, it was. I remember thinking it sounded like too nice a name for a place she’d want to eat.”

“And did Larinda like to sing? Was she good?”

“She was at one time. But once the drugs took over her life she didn’t give a damn about singing, just her next fix. Her voice probably was destroyed by all the crap she was smoking anyway.”

Emily nods. “Perhaps.”

Reid looks at Emily and realizes they have found a connection between the two victims. He looks back at Ballard.

“If you think of anything else that can help us, please don’t hesitate to call us.” He hands her his card. “I promise you we are doing everything we can to find who killed her.”

“I was so terrible to her,” Ballard whispers. “I’m going to hell for ignoring her.”

He reaches out and squeezes her arm. “No, you’re not. I had a problem with drugs once. You couldn’t help her until she was willing to help herself. She knew she had to make her amends with you and it had to be on your terms. She would have continued to reach out. Sometimes it takes several times to prove yourself after you’ve been untrustworthy for so long.”

She smiles at him. “Really?”

He nods. “Yes, really.”

“Thank you, Dr. Reid. I needed to hear that. Please…promise me you will call if you find that bastard?”

He smiles at her. “I promise.”

The two agents head back to the SUV. Emily smiles at Reid.

“For not even getting in the door you got us some good information, Reid. Good job connecting with her at the end. She needed to hear that. It was very brave of you to admit.”

He shrugs, blushing. “It’s like you said, she needed to hear that.”

As they head towards John Penn’s place of employment, Emily emails The Nightingale info to Morgan, JJ, Rossi and Hotch. So far 2 victims had that connection. Maybe more will, too. So far it’s the only thing that seems to be common. Penn was a clean cut, shy guy. Bray was a drug addict struggling with sobriety. No chance they could have crossed anywhere but their one commonality: singing.

“You know, today is Thursday,” Emily says.

Reid grins. “So I’ve been told.”

“Smart ass. Anyway, the karaoke contest is tomorrow. If this lead pans out, maybe we all need to think about dinner there.”

Reid nods. “Not a bad idea. Will give us a chance to study the crowd and the contestants.”

Emily nods and calls Hotch to give him a heads up on their potential connection. Now all they had to do was wait to see what the others had found out in their interviews.


	7. Chapter 7

When they leave the precinct to re-interview the co-workers of Petty Officer Amerson, Rossi is glad to see Mack drives her own car instead of a government issue. Just one more aspect of her personality to profile.

It is a sleek, red two-door sports car. Moon roof, heated seats, in-dash CD changer. Very nice, top of the line everything. She obviously has money and, unlike Emily, wants everyone to know it. Most likely another part of the “competition” that Mack had started way back at Yale.

They have been on the road 5 minutes when Mack looks over at him. “So, finished the profile of me yet?”

Rossi can’t help but grin. “ _Smart, too. Of course, she did go to Yale_.” He turns and looks at her. “Not really. Just trying to figure out why a smart, seemingly successful woman is so threatened by Emily Prentiss.”

She blurts out a sarcastic laugh. “Threatened? By Emily? Whatever. You may think you know her but I guarantee you don’t. She is a conniving, bitter, jealous bitch. She will walk over anyone that gets in her way to get what she wants. She will steal you blind, emotionally and physically, if you let her.”

Rossi laughs. “Then we know two completely different Emily Prentiss’. The one I know would give you anything you needed, do anything for you. And she could use her connections to run her own FBI team. But she doesn’t. She works her ass off to prove herself worthy of the Bureau and this team. If I have to go into a hairy situation, I know I want her guarding my back because I trust her to put my welfare ahead of hers. _That’s_   the real Emily Prentiss. Not this…this Emily you know from years ago. That Emily grew up. Seems like not all her classmates did the same.”

Mack just smiles though inside she is seething. For profilers, they sure seem to be snowed by Emily. No one can change as much as they say. No one. She finally glances at Rossi. “Tiger doesn’t change its stripes.”

“True. But once a year it sheds and the stripes are all new even though they look the same.”

Mack thinks about that a moment and can’t help but chuckle. “Right. Keep telling yourself that, Agent Rossi. Didn’t you write in your first book that once a person is a sociopath they are always a sociopath,” she points out.

He raises an eyebrow. “You calling Emily a sociopath?”

Mach shrugs. “Just making conversation. I mean, someone willing to fuck Ian Doyle just to stop him, well, you have to wonder what—”

“Do NOT finish that statement, Brewster,” Rossi warns sharply. “I think it might be best to concentrate on the case, not Emily. In fact, you may want to keep that in mind when talking to any member of this team. She has our respect and our trust. Nothing you can say will change that.”

Mack shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “Sure. No skin off my back.” Inside she is even angrier. Can’t these people see Emily for the selfish, conniving bitch she really is? There has got to be a way to humiliate her; to make them see that she is not worth their consideration. And there has got to be a way to get Agent Jareau to see that Mack will be a _much_   better lover than Emily. All it would take would be to bed the blonde once and Mack will have proven once and for all that she is superior to Emily fucking Prentiss.

A couple hours later they are nearly done talking to a fourth friend of Amerson’s when Rossi gets a text from Emily. He reads it and looks at the seaman in front of him.

“Out of curiosity, did Amerson sing?”

Mack looks at Rossi in confusion, the question coming seemingly from left field.

“Uh, yeah, actually. In fact he wanted to part of a USO group that tours and stuff and that’s made up of active duty personnel. But they told him he didn’t have enough experience singing alone on stage. He had always been in choirs and stuff.”

“Do you know if he’d been doing anything about that?” Rossi asks.

The man thinks a minute. “No, I---wait…yeah, come to think of it. A couple guys saw him somewhere doing karaoke. They said he was really good and got the audience involved and everything. It was some sort of contest and he won. They were really proud of him.”

“Did they say where this was?”

He slowly shakes his head. “If they did I don’t remember. But, wait a minute.” He goes to the door of the room they are using for the interviews and looks out at the bullpen of his department. He scans the people for a minute then sees who he’s looking for. “Hey, Tuck, where did you all see Amerson sing that time?”

The man named Tuck looks over at Amerson. “The Nightingale,” he shakes his head. “Amerson never even had a chance to defend his title. Life sucks sometimes.”

“Cool. Thanks, Tuck.”

Mack smiles at the man. “Thank you for your time, seaman. If we need anything else we will let you know.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He leaves and Rossi is on the phone with Morgan before the door finishes closing. “Morgan, we just confirmed The Nightingale angle here, too.” He listens a second. “Really? Okay. Sure, let us know what you find out.”

Rossi looks over at Mack. “Morgan and JJ also confirmed their victims sang at The Nightingale. They are heading over to the place now to speak with the owner.”

“Okay. What about us?”

“Any chance you can get me into Amerson’s base housing? It just helps us see what the place looks like in person.”

Mack nods. “Sure. Let’s go.”

* * *

 

“Morgan, we’ve just confirmed 5 winners of this contest have died. Why didn’t the owner recognize them from the TV reports? Especially the petty officer. Wouldn’t that have been pretty memorable?”

Morgan nods. “Yes. Unless you don’t want to remember or you are hoping people won’t make the connect.”

“In other words, we could be on our way to meet the unsub,” she concludes.

“Yep. Be ready for anything.”

JJ nods. She really wants this case to end before anyone else dies…and to get Emily and Rocky away from Mackenzie Brewster. And she kind of hates herself that she cares more about her wife and child than the victims. Kind of. Well, maybe is miffed at herself rather than hates herself. But she still can’t wait for the damn case to end.

When they get to the restaurant it is the start of the afternoon rush. Rather than be nuisances, they get a table and decide to order lunch

“Morgan?” JJ says as she scans the menu.

“Yeah, Jayje?”

“Order anything with fish in it and I will shoot you,” she threatens without ever bringing her eyes up from the menu.

Morgan starts to laugh. “Uh, right. Cancel the salmon cakes.”

Soon they order sweet tea and chili fries to start. JJ opts for the chicken pasta alfredo while Morgan goes for the steak sandwich. For 45 minutes they chat about anything but the case and it’s a break they both need. When they finish they look around. The restaurant is still pretty busy but they need the answers sooner rather than later. They pay the bill and then Morgan shows his badge, asking to speak with the owner. The waiter’s eyes get wide.

“Was the meal that bad, Officer?”

JJ smothers a laugh as Morgan grins. “Meal was fine. And it’s Agent, not officer. Please, just let the owner know we’d like to speak with him.”

“Yes, sir. I mean, Agent. I mean…right back, sir.”

The man hurries off as the two agents bust into laughter. “Did he wet himself, Morgan?”

“Surprisingly not. But I think he was close.”

The waiter comes back. “Uh, sirs. I mean, sir and ma’am. I mean…please just follow me.”

JJ and Morgan exchange amused grins as they follow the nervous man back to the office. He taps on the door.

“Sir, the FBI Detectives are here.”

JJ turns away so the boy doesn’t see her laughing. Morgan just shakes his head.

“Send them in.”

Morgan pats the boy on the shoulder as he opens the door and walks in followed by JJ. They show their credentials.

“I’m SSA Derek Morgan, this is SSA Jennifer Jareau with the FBI. Have you heard about a series of murders here the last few months?”

“Cody Beamer,” he introduces himself as he shakes their hands. “Yeah, it was on the news this morning. People getting strangled or something.”

“Right. Did you know five of the victims died the same weekend they won your karaoke contest?”

JJ might be new to profiling but the horror on the man’s face looks real to her.

“I…I…how…who…why…”

Morgan goes ahead and sits down. JJ follows suit. This keeps the agents from towering over the man and should help calm him some.

“Take a deep breath, sir,” Morgan says soothingly. “We think the unsub, or unknown subject, may have crossed paths with the victims here. You are in no way responsible for this but maybe you can help us.”

“Sure. Yes. Of course. Anything.”

JJ sits forward and hands him a folders with pictures of the first 10 victims in it. “Do you remember these people?”

The man flips through the pictures. “Shit…sorry. No. Look, can I be honest? We started the karaoke contest as a gimmick to draw people in on Fridays. For some reason we were always dead. But Saturdays when all the drunks sang karaoke we were hopping. We thought, as a lark, to make Friday’s for good singers.” He shrugs nervously. “It worked. But I seriously don’t even pay attention to the winners any more. I mean, I’m out 2 dinners but the bar is full all night. It works for my bottom line and that’s all that matters.”

“You don’t even remember the sailor?”

He manages a small smile. “Agent Jareau, do you know how many drunk Navy guys come in here to sing “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” on Saturdays? We call it the Top Gun effect.”

JJ chuckles. “Right. Didn’t think of that. Besides, they aren’t in uniform here. They could be anyone else and they just aren’t going to stand out.”

“Do you keep records of what they sang on the night’s they won?”

“Uh, sure. We actually write it on the backs of the pictures.”

“Why?” JJ asks.

He chuckles. “In all honesty, I have no idea. One of my bartenders does it. He’s kind of…OCD, you know. It’s his thing.”

“Ah, okay.”

He leads them out to his “Wall of Champions”. Morgan and JJ scan all the faces and locate all 10 victims. Morgan pulls out his phone.

“Hotch? Do we have a good pic of victim 11 yet?”

“Uh, Garcia should have the DMV photo out to us as soon as the ME confirms her identity. Should be any time now. Why?”

“We’re at that club. Victims 1-10 were here. And it we’re right, number 11 is the lady that won on Friday.”

While Morgan was on the phone, JJ and the bar owner had been sliding the pictures out of the frames and reading the notes on the back. A pattern quickly becomes clear.

“Morgan…they all sang ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ by Joan Jett.”

Morgan stares at her a minute. “Uh, Hotch, they all sang the same song.”

JJ looks at the bar owner. “Is this a popular song?”

He nods. “Actually, yeah. With men and women. It’s fun, it gets people active, done right it really gets the place hopping and people order more drinks. Done wrong it makes people laugh and order more drinks. It’s one of our ‘win-win’ songs.”

“I see. Ever have more than one person sing it?”

He thinks a minute. “I…I don’t know. If a singer is smart and someone does their song, they will change songs before they go on unless they know they can top the other singer.”

“Right.”

JJ starts to scan the photos. She finds several people that have won more than once. She pulls their pictures off and one man had won each time singing “I Love Rock and Roll.” She holds his picture up.

“Do you know this man?”

He stares at the picture. “Sort of. He’s usually here on Friday’s.”

“Was he here last Friday?”

He thinks. “I…I don’t remember. It was a pretty crazy night. A ship had just come back from a 9 month tour a few days before so we were slammed. I ended up behind the bar most of the night. I couldn’t have even told you who won on Friday before we looked at this wall.”

“I see. Do you mind if I keep these photos?” she holds up the photos of the potential suspect and the winners.

“No. Go for it. Shit, can I get sued for this?” Beamer asks nervously.

JJ rolls her eyes. “No. The only one responsible is the murderer.”

“What if that guy comes back tomorrow?”

“Keep in mind it may not be him. This is just a lead. He may know someone else who has an obsession with him and sees these murders as a way of protecting him.” She pulls out her card. “If you see him, give me a call. We’ll come have a talk with him if we haven’t already. Okay?”

He slowly sighs. “Sure. Okay.”

JJ and Morgan head out to the SUV and head for the precinct. Their phones both alert to text messages. With her identity finally confirmed, Garcia had been able to get the DMV photo of victim 11. JJ sighs.

“It’s her. Victim 11 won on Friday.”

“And was dead by Sunday. JJ, it was assumed that all the victims died on a Sunday. We need to find out if anyone who works at the bar on Friday and Saturday gets Sunday off.”

JJ nods. “Right. I’ll give the owner a call back.”

“No, wait. He may say something to accidently alert the unsub if it’s a worker. Let’s get with the team and start to narrow down the profile. Maybe once we have that he’ll recognize a regular or an employee.”

JJ nods. “Right.”


	8. Chapter 8

Back at the precinct, Emily had been going through messages from various media outlets as Reid combed through leads from the tip line. When Morgan and JJ get back they tell the others about the karaoke contest winners.

Emily frowns. “So our unsub is either someone who considers that  _his_  song or a huge Joan Jett fan who hates anyone winning with her songs?”

“Maybe.” JJ grins. “Or maybe he prefers Madonna when it comes to edgy female singers.”

Her teammates chuckle, needing the gallows humor to stay sane. JJ starts to help Emily with the media requests as Morgan starts to help Reid with the tips.

“So, where is Brewster?” JJ asks.

“When Hotch and Rossi went to speak with the latest victim’s fiancé she said she had to get back to Oceana to do a few things on another case. Kinda bums me out,” Emily answers.

JJ slowly looks up at her. “It does?”

“Oh, yeah. I was hoping we could continue skipping down memory lane. It was oh so much fun,” Emily says with a grin.

JJ just rolls her eyes. “Sick and twisted, Agent Prentiss. Sick and twisted.”

Morgan and Reid chuckle at the evil smile on Emily’s face.

* * *

 

At 3 p.m. the whole team, the local detectives on the ‘task force’ and Mack are all gathered in the conference room. The agents had noticed that the local detectives had basically let them run the whole investigation. They had plenty on their desks to clear and were happy to have a few case files moved to the desks of the FBI as long as they get the credit in the end.

Hotch steps forward. “The man we are looking for is a narcissist. The connection to all his victims is that they won a karaoke contest by singing ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ by Joan Jett. The unsub either hates their version or hates that they won instead of him by singing what he considers to be his song.”

“How do we figure out which it is?” one detective asks.

“We’re getting video footage from the bar. We’ll need your help watching it from the 11 nights our victims won,” he tells them.

Hotch does not mention the singer that had won multiple times with that song. He doesn’t want the locals inadvertently focusing only on him in case he isn’t the unsub but is, instead, the obsession of the unsub.

“Do we need to stake the restaurant out?” one detective asks.

“We will want to have local police on standby tomorrow but we plan to be inside,” he tells them. “We’re going to profile the entire crowd. If all goes well, we can zoom in on a suspect or suspects by the end of the night. On Saturday we can then question anyone of interest. Any questions?”

There are none. The detectives head out, knowing they will be spending the rest of the afternoon watching the video Garcia had sent them. The analyst already had the video running through facial recognition programs to see who was at the bar each time one of the victims won.

Once it is just the BAU and Mack in the conference room, Hotch looks out at them. “I think you know where we’ll be tomorrow night.”

“At least it’s the night with the good singers,” Rossi points out.

Morgan raises an eyebrow. “You know, if it’s another singer, it might help to have someone backstage.”

“Like who?” Hotch asks.

“Em, you can sing. You can pretend to be new in town and looking to have some fun,” Morgan points out.

Emily had been making a note for her next press release. She slowly raises her head and glares at Morgan.

“You want me…to go undercover? Are you fucking  _kidding_  me?”

Morgan swallows. He hadn’t thought how a minor undercover stint would affect her. “I…I just…I was…” he looks to JJ for help.

“Emily, it’s not the same,” JJ says cautiously.

Emily stands, staring at her wife furiously. “Not the same? Excuse me.”

She storms out of the conference room. JJ rubs her face with her hands. “Shit. I’ll be right back.”

Reid stands. “No, Jayje, I’ve got this one.”

“You sure?”

He gives her a grin. “Did you see the look she gave you?”

JJ nods. “Good point.”

Reid walks out and heads down the way Emily had gone. He finds her out behind the building in the smoker’s courtyard. She is pacing back and forth, trying to control her breathing and, with it, her blood pressure.

“They didn’t mean to hurt you, Em,” Reid states as he walks out.

“I know, Reid. But I can’t believe after how shitty Morgan made me feel about doing an undercover op that he would suggest it. And for Jen to agree after all the damn nightmares? It’s fucking ridiculous.”

Reid nods. “I agree.”

She stops and turns to him. “You…you do?”

Reid smiles. “Yeah, I do. But I also know they suggested it because they believe in you. Not just your singing but your ability to step into the role and step back out. And your ability to do the job. But personally, I would have rather you volunteered to do it. Then you wouldn’t be so apprehensive.”

Emily sighs. “True.” She sits down on a bench. “And I would have, wouldn’t I?”

Reid nods. “Yep. Because catching the unsub is what matters to you. Sometimes beyond your own safety. We all share that fault.” He walks over and sits beside her. “Can I let you in on a little secret?”

She nods. “Sure.”

He clears his throat and starts to sing:

_Josie's on a vacation far away_   
_Come around and talk it over_   
_So many things that I wanna say_   
_You know I like my girls a little bit older_   
_I just wanna use your love tonight_   
_I don't wanna lose your love tonight_

_I ain't got many friends left to talk to_   
_Nowhere to run when I'm in trouble_   
_You know I'd do anything for you_   
_Stay the night - but keep it undercover_   
_I just wanna use your love tonight_   
_I don't wanna lose your love tonight*_

As he finishes the verses he finally looks nervously at Emily who is smiling from ear to ear. “Reid…you can sing beautifully!” She punches his arm. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us?”

He shrugs. “Never really came up.”

She laughs. “No, I guess I didn’t. If it wasn’t for Henry you all may not know I can sing. So are you saying you’ll go undercover, too?”

“Only if you’ll be there to protect me from people throwing rotten tomatoes.”

She smiles and pulls him into a one-arm hug. “You got it. Thank you, Reid. It will make me feel better to know you’ve got my back in there.”

He just nods. They head back inside. Emily stares at Morgan, then moves her eyes to JJ, then finally to Hotch.

“Okay, I’ll do it on one condition: Reid goes in, too.”

Morgan laughs. “Reid? Come on, Prentiss, it’s the night for good singers.”

“I know. Twenty bucks says Reid has a better shot to win than me.”

“Oh, you are so on, Princess,” he agrees.

Everyone except Morgan seems to realize Emily has something up her sleeve or she wouldn’t have made the bet. Emily looks at Hotch. “Guess I need to learn ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ before tomorrow night.”

“Me, too,” says Reid. “If we both sing it we have a better chance of drawing out the unsub.”

JJ sits forward, suddenly nervous. “Uh, guys, what if he breaks pattern and goes after them at the club?”

“We’ll be in the audience,” Hotch reminds her. “But for whatever reason he usually doesn’t strike until Sunday. If Prentiss or Reid wins, we’ll have time to set up and protect them.”

“Right. Sure. Okay. Still a bit wary about this,” JJ admits.

Emily just places a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll be fine, JJ. We’ll be together in the back and then once we’re in our safe houses we’ll definitely be secure.”

“Look, Reid, Emily, head back to the hotel and start working on your songs. JJ, take the afternoon media conference. We need to keep Emily off TV from this point forward. Morgan, Rossi, start looking at the videos. The more eyes the better.”

“And what should I do, Agent Hotchner? I’d be happy to help JJ with the media,” Mack offers.

He stares at her a moment. “You and I are going to see the ME. He has something he wants to show us.”

“Oh. Okay. Ready when you are.” She slides a predatory glance at JJ, before looking at Emily. “Hopefully we won’t be long and we can get back here to…do whatever we can to make life more pleasurable for the rest of the team.” She glances once more at JJ.

Reid can tell Emily is about to react and swiftly steps in front of her. “Well, we should go. Come on, Em.”

Emily stares at him and realizes he stopped her from doing something she could come to regret professionally. Personally, she would have loved smacking the shit eating grin off Mack’s face. She nods her thanks to him then looks at JJ. “See you later.”

JJ just nods. She had heard the inflection in Mack’s voice and since she had been looking at Emily had seen its effect on her wife. She is thankful Reid stepped in when he did. When they get out to the SUV, Emily quickly fires off a text.

“ _I love you. And I hate that I can’t say that in front of her. You are my world, Jen. Please don’t doubt that_.”

A few minutes later, she gets a text back.

_“I don’t doubt it for a second, baby. I love you, too. Good luck with learning the song_.”

* * *

 

Hotch and Mack drive in silence to the ME. It drives the woman crazy. She wants Hotch to warn her again, caution her, let her know she’s getting to the whole team.

And he knows it which is why he keeps quiet. He can be just as twisted as the rest of them.

As they enter, Hotch takes the lead. “I’m Chief Hotchner with the FBI. This is Agent Brewster with NCIS. Dr. Withers asked to see us.”

“Yes, Chief Hotchner, right down the hall. Last door on the right.”

He nods. “Thank you.” He knocks on the indicated door, knowing Mack is still awaiting some sort of caution from him.

“Come in.”

Hotch opens the door and lets Mack precede him into the room.

“Dr. Withers, I’m Chief Hotchner, this is Agent Brewster. We got a message that you wanted to go over some findings with us?”

“Yes, please sit down.” He gestures to two chairs in front of his desk. “These people were brutally strangled as you know. But the attack was so swift they never even had time to fight back, not even Petty Officer Amerson, who probably was in the best shape of all of them. You know all this. But what I have since been able to confirm is that the tongues were cut out with near medical precision as far back into the victims mouth as the killer could get. Based on the cut pattern, they used a paring knife.”

“A paring knife? Does that make any sense?” Mack asks, slightly sickened at the thought.

The doctor shakes his head. “Not really. There are better knives to use in such a tight space and the curved nature of that blade would add to the difficulties.”

“Is there any evidence that the victims had been drugged prior to the attack?” Hotch asks.

“Tox screens came back negative for all narcotics. A few had some form of alcohol in them but nothing that would have made them inebriated. I should correct that, in that the last victim was too decomposed for me to tell if they had alcohol in their system or not.”

Mack is studying the information sheet the ME had handed them when they entered. “Dr. Withers, was there any mutilation done to the vocal cords?”

Dr. Withers thinks a moment then shakes his head. “Nothing more than was done by the piano wire. Why?”

“Just curious.” Mack turns to Hotch. “I’ve had a few profiling courses though won’t pretend to know as much as your team. If this was just about the song, the singing, wouldn’t the killer damage the vocal cords?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Hotch concedes. “Cutting the tongue out has been a way to silence an enemy or perceived enemy since ancient times. Until we catch the unsub we won’t know for sure the motivation behind taking the tongue versus cutting out the vocal cords. Could be he assumes the damage from the piano wire is enough or the tongue is where his focus was.” He sighs. “Something tells me this guy will end up in a seminar after we catch him.”

Withers and Mack both nod, sure the chief is correct. After thanking the ME for his time, the two agents leave. Hotch looks at Mack.

“Why don’t you call it a day on this case? I know you have other investigations to keep track of and there’s really nothing more you can do here until we have a solid lead.”

“Will I be kept in the loop?”

He nods. “Of course. Agent, I don’t plan to shut you out of this investigation unless you make me.”

Mack nods. “Okay. Thank you.” Inside she is angry. She had wanted to stick around if JJ was there but with no reason she couldn’t risk alienating Hotch and getting kicked off the case. It would be painful personally but devastating professionally.

When they get back to the station it is just after 5 p.m. Mack had planned to just grab her briefcase and go. But when she sees a tired looking JJ head into the bathroom she can’t resist following her. If nothing else, Emily Prentiss had wonderful taste in women.

Quietly opening the door she sees JJ leaning over a sink washing her face. She slowly walks up and wraps her arms around JJ’s waist. With a gasp, JJ straightens up, giving Mack a chance to kiss her neck twice before the blonde spins out of the aggressive brunette’s hands.

“What the FUCK do you think you’re DOING?” JJ hollers.

Mack just grins. “Oh, come on. I know Emily doesn’t do exclusive relationships. Surely you swing a bit, too, or your marriage wouldn’t work.”

JJ’s face and ears are BRIGHT red. It takes her a second to regain her voice. Mack takes it as she is considering the offer.

“So, you want to—”

“I  _want_  to tear your fucking eyes out but I  _don’t_ want to lose my badge!” JJ takes a deep breath. “You knew Emily over  _fifteen_  years ago. Most people change in that time. Emily has even if you haven’t. We are in a committed, monogamous relationship. We have a son and another child on the way.” She gets up into Mack’s face. “Don’t you dare cross a fucking line with me or her again or I swear to God you will lose your badge and everything else I can get taken away from you INCLUDING your freedom if you try to assault me again.”

Mack just stares stunned by the ferocity of the woman. JJ doesn’t wait for a response. She storms out of the bathroom leaving the NCIS agent behind. She walks into the conference room.

“Anyone ready to go?”

Hotch looks at her in concern. “Everything okay?”

“Hotch, just…please…drop it for now. Please?”

He nods. “Sure.” He looks at Morgan. “You ready to go?”

He nods. “Yeah, I’m about done here.”

“Me, too,” Rossi says. “What about you, boss?”

Hotch groans. “Have to call Straus and update her then talk to two police chiefs to let them know what we know so far.”

Rossi sighs. “I’ll help you. I can talk to Straus while you call the locals.”

Hotch raises an eyebrow. “Really?”

Rossi nods. “Trust me, I’ll be done fast enough to call the other cop.”

Hotch chuckles. “If you say so.” He looks at the other two. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning. 7:30 for a breakfast meeting in the hotel dining room.”

Out in the SUV, Morgan looks at JJ. “You want to talk about it?”

“No,” she answers tersely.

“Okay,” he says. “But I’m here for you, Jayje, if that changes.”

She just nods and continues to stare out the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Reid sings The Outfield “Your Love”


	9. Chapter 9

When they get to the hotel, Reid and Emily key up the winning performances on her laptop. The winners hadn’t just sung the song they had PERFORMED it. One woman had gone so far as to wear a wig to make her look more like Joan Jett. The guys had done their best Rock God looks and actions, one even using a prop guitar to drive the crowd wild.

“Oh, I am so completely screwed,” Reid mumbles.

“Why?”

“I can’t do…that,” he says gesturing at the computer and meaning all the performances.

“Sure you can. Come on, first of all, do you know the words?”

He nods. “Sure. Read them earlier.”

“Okay, that’s good. Now, do you know how to sing them along to the song as if…as if you were singing in the shower?”

“Umm…not really. Maybe. I don’t know.”

She smiles. “Come on let’s sing it together. Just sing it. We’ll worry about performance later.”

Reid nods, completely unsure of himself and hating the feeling. He hadn’t felt this bad since he had failed his firearms qualification and then been the only chance to save the lives of Hotch, a group of hostages and himself.

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

Emily smiles and rubs his arm. “You’ll be fine. I wouldn’t have bet on you if I didn’t believe that.”

Reid stares into her eyes. “Really?

“Really.”

She hits play and together they start to sing the song along with the performers. After a few times right, she manipulates the audio so they only hear the music, not the singer. Finally, she sings it once alone. Then Reid sings it. Emily claps as he makes it all the way through the song perfectly.

“Good, Reid. But we watched the videos together. You need to…to perform, not just sing it,” she coaches him.

Reid sighs. “I’m beginning to think this was a big mistake. Huge. Colossal.”

She places her hands on his shoulders. “You can do this, Reid. I know you can.” He sighs. She thinks a second. “Did you ever as a kid grab a brush or something and sing into it to a song you really liked? Or play air guitar to something?”

Reid raises his eyebrows and shakes his head. “No.”

“Oh. Crap.” She thinks a second more. “Reid, what is String Theory?”

“What?”

She shrugs. “Just always wanted to know and understand it.”

Reid launches into an explanation of a complex theory of life. The more he talks the more excited and animated he gets. Emily just leans against the dresser in her room and grins at him. Suddenly he realizes she’s not really paying attention to his words.

“You’re not listening to me,” he says, somewhat hurt.

“Because I was watching you.” She stands up and places him in front of the mirror. “Now, sing the song like you are explaining String Theory.”

He is confused but shrugs and nods. She hits the play button on the computer screen and Reid gets his mind to sing as his body explains. He watches as if from outside himself as his body moves in time with the music. He stops mid-song and smiles. He turns to Emily.

“Thank you.”

She smiles and nods. “Any time.”

“You will remind me of this tomorrow, right?”

“You know I will, Reid. I promise to wait backstage for you. Morgan is going to talk to the restaurant owner in the morning. We’ll have a few people between us and whoever sings the best out of the two of us will be the winner.” She punches his shoulder lightly. “I hope it’s you.”

He smiles. “Well, if I remember what you taught me and don’t puke on the front tables due to nerves maybe I’ll have a chance.”

She laughs as she studies his slacks, button up, and sweater vest. She slowly shakes her head. “Not dressed like that you won’t.” She glances at her watch. “It’s nearly 5:30. How about you and I go shopping for something to wear tomorrow? When we get back maybe we can rehearse for the team. We need to make sure we can sell this.”

Reid nods. “Okay. I need to run to my room really quickly. Meet you out front?”

Emily nods. “Sounds good.”

As Reid leaves, he smiles when he sees JJ in the hall. “Hey, Jayje. You okay?”

She puts a smile on her face. “Fine, Spence. How was the practice?”

“It was okay. Em and I are going shopping for outfits. We have look  _and_ sound the part.”

She nods. “Yep.” She looks at him with concern. “Are you sure about doing this, Spence?”

He smiles. “Until a few minutes ago I was having a few doubts. Then Emily showed me a way to get through it. I’m kind of excited about it now.”

She smiles and pats his arm. “I’m glad.”

After he’s gone, she takes a steadying breath. There would be nothing good about getting Emily worked up about Mack. JJ has decided not to say anything until the case is over unless Mack does something more. Between Rocky and having to really sell her performance on Friday her wife just didn’t need any added stress. She keys the door to the room and walks in.

“Hey, Em. All set for tomorrow?”

Emily smiles. “Mostly. Need a costume, though. Heading out with Reid to do a little shopping.”

“Great,” JJ says.

Emily is immediately wary. JJ has yet to look at her and hasn’t moved to hug or kiss her. When JJ turns to take her gun off Emily sees why. She calms the rage that ignites a fire within her before she speaks.

“Those singers really get into the part. May have to get leather pants to pull off Joan…so to speak,” Emily says casually.

JJ nods and chuckles. “Probably.” She starts to take off her slacks. “Maybe I can go with you to help you pick something out. I can tell you what will look so sexy the crowd will go nuts just seeing you.”

Emily moves towards the door. “That’s okay.” JJ pulls off her blouse. “It would probably be best to treat that lipstick smear on your collar. It’s not your color…or mine.”


	10. Chapter 10

JJ freezes. Before she can say a word Emily is out the door and stomping down the hallway. JJ grabs her sleep shirt and shorts, pulling them on haphazardly as she races out the door.

“EMILY! WAIT! EMILY!”

She gets down to the elevators in time to see one descending already.

“SHIT!”

The other elevator is on 10. Since she is on 5 she knows she can’t wait. She runs to the stairwell and takes them two at a time. She gets to the lobby in time to see Emily climbing into the waiting SUV. Before she gets to the door Reid has pulled away.

“SHIT! SHIT! DOUBLE SHIT! FUCK!”

“Um, Agent Jareau?”

JJ turns to see the hotel manager staring at her disapprovingly. At first she thinks it is just her rather loud cussing. She then notices her shirt is on backwards and her shorts are inside out plus she is barefoot. She sighs.

“Sorry, sir. Long story.”

“I’m sure. But please keep in mind this is a family establishment.”

She nods. “Yes, sir. Uh, think you could let your desk clerk know who I am. I sort of locked myself out of my room.”

He nods. “If that gets you dressed more appropriately faster, then yes, I definitely can do that.”

She sighs. “Thank you.”

When she gets back up to her floor she runs into Morgan, who is heading down for a work out. He looks her over.

“Dare I ask?”

“No,” she sulks. “I just fucked up. I thought I was doing the right thing and I wasn’t.”

“What happened at the station, Jayje?”

She crosses her arms across her chest. “I…I just…look, can we take this to my room so I can get my clothes on straight?”

Morgan nods and follows her down the hall. As they walk in she grabs her blouse off the bed and sees the red lipstick smeared on the collar. She hadn’t even looked in the mirror after the incident with Mack. She throws the shirt on the ground in disgust.

“Fuck me,” she mutters.

She heads into the bathroom to get changed as Morgan lifts up the shirt. Even he recognizes the smear is Mack’s, not Emily’s. When JJ comes out she sees him set the blouse on the chair. She drops onto the end of the bed.

“I swear to God, Morgan, I did not cheat on Emily.”

“I know that, Jayje. What the hell happened?”

JJ runs a hand through her hair and tells him about the incident in the bathroom. His anger is palpable when she is done.

“I could so easily tear her head off!”

JJ nods. “I know. And you can imagine Emily would be even worse. Morgan, I just didn’t want to give her more stress than she’s already got. But I made a mistake. A huge mistake. What do I do?”

He squats down in front of her and takes her hands. “Tell her the truth, JJ. She’s going to be pissed but she may understand it a little better if you are honest with her and tell why you handled it the way you did. And if you need me to, I’ll talk to her, too.”

JJ nods. “Thanks, Morgan.”

Two hours later Emily enters the hotel room. JJ stands and stares at her wife.

“I am so sorry, Emily. Please…please let me explain.”

Emily stares at her. She tosses her bags on the dresser. She had managed to hide her anger…and disappointment from Reid. “You can try, JJ. But right now I am…I am…” she can’t even describe how betrayed she feels. Never had she thought JJ could make her feel this way.

JJ winces when in the privacy of their room Emily still says “JJ” instead of Jennifer. The brunette was starting to compartmentalize their relationship and JJ’s heart nearly breaks. The blonde takes a deep breath. There was no need to use the bitch’s name. Emily would know who it was.

“I was in the bathroom washing my face. I was leaning over the sink and…and she came up behind me. She grabbed me around the waist. I stood up in shock and she kissed my neck before I pulled away from her. I swear, Em, I didn’t know she got lipstick on my shirt.”

Emily stares into blue eyes filled with fear and shame. “Were you going to tell me?”

“Eventually. I knew you had to concentrate on your performance and the stress of having to do anything even this minor undercover was already a lot for you and Rocky. As long as she didn’t do anything else, I wasn’t going to say anything until after the case ended.” She steps closer to Emily, reaching for her hesitantly. “But I swear I was going to tell you.”

Emily brings a hand up to her wife’s cheek. “If she touches you again, if she even looks at you again, I want to know immediately. This shit has to end, Jen. And I won’t let her hurt you or us with her fucking games. Don’t you ever keep something like this from me again. I just spent two hours wondering what the hell she did to you.” She squeezes her eyes shut. “The lipstick, the fact that you wouldn’t look at me…fuck, Jen…”

JJ inhales sharply. “Oh, God…Emily…I should have realized. For all you knew she had…had done more than kiss my neck.”

Emily slowly nods. “Yes.” She opens her eyes. “The girlfriend she stole from me? She hurt her, Jen. Badly. Mack is a sadist. She’s not into honorable BDSM relationships. She never was. That girl left Yale it was so bad. And the next year one girl started to press charges but stopped when it became clear that she would be dragged through the dirt if she kept at it. If Mack hadn’t slapped the officer that showed up for the call her record might have disappeared. But that misdemeanor stuck.”

“God, Emily…I didn’t know. I should have told you. Please tell me you forgive me? Please.”

Emily pulls JJ into a deep, passionate kiss. “I forgive you, Jen. You’re my wife.” She kisses her again. “And I plan to make sure you remember that.”

She jerks JJ’s sleep shorts down. JJ gasps in shock. As Emily stands she lifts JJ’s shirt up and off, quickly filling her hands with supple breasts.

“I love you, Mrs. Prentiss,” she says before capturing JJ’s mouth once more.

JJ moans her hips thrusting towards Emily. Emily’s hands stroke down JJ’s sides, over her hips and then to her ass, squeezing the perfect orbs and pulling JJ closer. JJ’s hands start to work the buttons on Emily’s blouse, but the brunette is running this show. She turns them and pushes JJ back towards the bed. As JJ sits down, Emily steps just out of her reach and starts to undo her blouse.

“Please, Em, let me help. Please,” JJ whispers.

Emily steps back to her. As the brunette works on her blouse and bra, JJ unbuckles Emily’s belt and pants. Emily toes off her boots and steps out of her pants. JJ lies back on the bed, extending her hand to her wife. Emily takes it and allows JJ to pull her onto her. Their mouths lock together once more as their breasts rub into each other. Emily works one leg between JJ’s. They both moan as they feel how wet their wife is. When the kiss ends, Emily stares into JJ’s eyes.

“I love you. You are my equal, my partner, my wife. And I will always trust you with my heart and body. Always, Jennifer.”

JJ threads her hands into Emily’s hair and pulls her back down into another kiss. She rolls and ends up on top of Emily. She kisses her way down Emily’s jaw to her ear.

“I will never, ever betray your love and trust, Emily. I love you. I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone.”

As JJ had talked, Emily had started to rub and squeeze the blonde’s breasts. This makes JJ start to rock her hips. Emily shifts her wife so she is straddling her hips.

“Oh, Emily,” JJ moans as she grinds her wet center down against Emily’s pelvic bone.

Emily’s hands move down to control JJ’s hips, thrusting up hard and faster against the hard clit she can feel with every push. Her mouth latches onto one of the breasts teasing her from above.

“OH! Em, oh, yes!” JJ groans, as she starts to thrust faster.

When Emily can feel JJ is ready to explode, she slides her hand between them and thrusts two fingers up and into the searing heat. JJ sits up, stealing her breast back from Emily’s mouth as she rides her wife’s fingers. Emily uses her thumb to massage the swollen clit. JJ’s hands rest on Emily’s breasts as she rides her wife’s body to a mind blowing orgasm.

“YES! Oh, YES! YES! YESSSSS!”

Emily is rewarding by a waterfall from JJ. As JJ slumps back down, Emily flips her so she is on her back. Without a word, Emily kisses her way down JJ’s body and runs her tongue back up JJ’s still quaking center.

“Oh, Em! I…I…”

Emily thrusts her tongue deep into JJ, choking off whatever the blonde was going to say. Hands tangle into dark hair as JJ rolls her hips against her wife’s face. Emily feels the bud between JJ’s legs start to harden once more. She wraps her lips around it, sucking it hard into her mouth. As JJ thrusts with the move, Emily thrusts three fingers deep into her wife.

“OH! EM! YES! THERE! PLEASE!”

It only takes a few thrusts and sucks before JJ explodes once more. Emily continues to thrust and suck, taking JJ through yet a third orgasm. Finally JJ grabs Emily’s hair.

“Please…stop…oh, Em…”

A satisfied Emily crawls up her wife, kissing heated, sensitive skin all the way up to her wife’s mouth. JJ moans as she tastes herself on Emily’s lips. Emily runs a hand lightly from JJ’s shoulder down to her fingers. She interlocks their hands and slowly pulls JJ’s hand to her own aching center. JJ gasps as Emily starts to manipulate JJ’s hand over the clit and full folds buried in brunette curls.

“You feel so good, Jen,” Emily whispers.

JJ rolls to her side and forces Emily to her back. She takes control of her own hand, her mouth questing over Emily’s chest and neck. She draws a tongue over the sensitive tip of Emily’s breast. And as she sucks in that perfect nipple, she thrust her fingers into Emily’s center.

“Oh, yes, Jen! Yes! More, please!”

JJ rolls so she can straddle one of Emily’s legs. She uses her thigh to help her thrust harder and deeper, sucking harder, nipping at the breast her mouth worships. Emily starts to meet every pump of JJ’s leg.

“Yes. Yes. Yes. YES! Oh, JEN!”

As JJ feels Emily ready to burst, she leans up and captures her mouth in a deep kiss, their height difference giving her last few thrusts even more power. She swallows the scream that rips from Emily’s throat as she is wrapped in ecstasy.

When she is finally able to open her eyes again, Emily stares into the blue eyes staring down at her. She brings a hand to JJ’s face.

“I love you, Jennifer Prentiss.”

“I love you, too, Emily Prentiss. I swear…no more secrets.”

Emily nods. “I know, baby. I know.”

They share another, tenderer kiss. They both know they should think about ordering dinner. But the tender kisses continue…accompanied by tender caresses…and finally more love making that continues most of the night.

Who needs dinner when you have love?


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning the team meets at the hotel restaurant where they won’t have to deal with Mack or the local police. Everyone knows that should one of the uninvited crash the party, talk will turn to anything other than the case. After they get their orders placed, Hotch looks at the team.

“Straus has approved two safe houses. Obviously we should only need the one for the winner but we will stake both out to be sure. Morgan, JJ, make sure the bar owner understands that Reid or Prentiss must win. This has to end this weekend.”

Morgan nods. “No problem. We’ll point out that whoever wins won’t actually use the free dinners so it’s winning situation for him.”

JJ chuckles. “Who says we won’t use them? Lunch was pretty good the other day.”

Morgan chuckles as Hotch looks at Reid and Emily. “Speaking of you two, I’d like you to work from here today. The fewer people that see you around the station the fewer chances you end up on camera or being seen if the unsub tries to insert himself or herself into the investigation.”

Emily nods. “Okay. What can we do?”

“Garcia should have the background runs on the bar employees. You two will have the most interaction with them so make sure you study them. The guy who won so many times using that song will also be in there. Know thine enemy, as the saying goes.”

Emily and Reid nod.

Hotch looks at Rossi. “You and I will be interviewing some more family members. Morgan, JJ, when you finish at the bar, so will you.” He clears his throat. “I’ve told Agent Brewster her help will not be needed today unless we get a break on the Amerson case specifically or the killings as a whole. Any questions?” Everyone nods. “Good. Let’s get to it and start the beginning of the end of this shit today.”

* * *

 

In their SUV, Hotch hands his phone to Rossi. “Read this. Garcia pulled it.”

Rossi takes it and reads the background the tech had pulled on Brewster. By the time he finishes he is shocked.

“How the hell does a textbook narcissist end up in NCIS? A lawyer I can understand but an agent?”

Hotch shrugs. “Are we really that far off the textbook classification?”

Rossi thinks a moment then chuckles. “I know   _I’m_   not. Not so sure about the rest of you.”

Hotch chuckles. “Thanks. I think. I’ve made some subtle inquiries. She was given the choice of giving up her law license or being kicked out of the Bar over some discrepancies that came to light after a case. From there she went to the New York police force as a spokeswoman. She had the spotlight but was just a mouthpiece. It wasn’t important enough. She went to work at a private detective firm which gave her a chance to learn investigative skills. A Yale alum connection helped her snag the NCIS position. She’s been good except she doesn’t work well with a partner and there have been allegations of falsified evidence.”

“And to top it all off, she hates Emily. Not much to make her very likable,” Rossi concludes for Hotch.

Hotch grins. “Right.” He sighs. “She did something to JJ last night.”

Rossi nods. “I know. Think Emily knows?”

“Part of me hopes yes but part of me hopes no. I’ll need to talk to JJ before Brewster comes back to the investigation. We need her on the sting only because the unsub could be in the Navy. But I won’t let her do something that endangers Emily or Reid. Their asses will be on the line this weekend.”

Rossi nods. “I agree. Want back up when you approach her?”

“No. She won’t react well to being cornered or ganged up on. I’ll speak to her alone.”

“When?”

“Right now,” Hotch says as he takes the exit for Oceana.

A few minutes later, Hotch sits down at the chair in front of Mack’s temporary desk.

“Obviously my first warning to you went unheeded,” he states. “Now, I will lay it on the line for you. I know about the Bar, I know about the NYPD, and I know about the connections that got you your job.” Mack colors slightly. He pauses for effect. “And I know what you did to Agent Jareau last night.”

Mack actually inhales and her pupils dilate. She would have never guessed JJ would tell about the…incident in the bathroom. Hotch grins inwardly. He had no idea what happened but now he has confirmed it was not good. He would have to speak to JJ later.

“Tonight we move forward with a sting to try to draw the unsub out after Reid or Prentiss. Since there is a slight possibility the unsub could be Naval personnel we would want an agent from NCIS to be with us. However, if you can’t keep your personal animosity and childish games out of the business at hand I will request and be granted a new agent.”

“Ha! You couldn’t do that so quickly.”

“It’s already done. I spoke with our director this morning who spoke to yours. One call and you are removed. It is up to you.”

Mack stares into his eyes. His micro expressions give away nothing. If anything was a bluff she has no idea. The one thing she does know is she would never, ever play poker with Agent Hotchner. She sits back in her chair.

“I’ll lay off Emily and JJ. You have my word. Regardless of what you may think of me, finding this murderer is why I am here.”

He nods. “Good. I will trust your word until you give me reason not to. Meet me at the restaurant at 7. The contest starts at 8. We’ll be profiling the crowd until then.”

“Yes, sir. And, sir, I am sorry if I caused any problems with your team. Emily and I have…unfinished business. And it will stay unfinished until this ends.”

He nods. “See you tonight.”

He heads out and sees Rossi speaking on the phone, his back to Hotch. “I’m sorry, Erin. I wish I knew when we’d be back.” He listens. “As soon as I know you will know. Bye honey.”

Rossi hangs up his phone and turns, jumping slightly when he sees Hotch staring at him. The two men stare into each other’s eyes. Finally Hotch blinks and turns away.

“Not enough therapists in the world for me to ask what I want to. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Rossi just chuckles and gets into the car so they can go speak with some more family members. Maybe, just maybe, one of the victims had mentioned someone at the contest who had worried them. Anything they could find out to give Emily and Reid an edge would be both appreciated and comforting.

* * *

 

When they get to their SUV Morgan looks at JJ. “You look like you didn’t get much sleep. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

JJ grins, blushing. “Uh, definitely a good thing.”

He chuckles. “Good. I was worried she’d be knocking on my door last night for a place to sleep.”

“I was kind of worried about that, too,” JJ admits. “I was wrong, Morgan. But at least she understood I did the wrong thing for the right reason. And I am very glad Brewster is not going to be around today. After last night I would be a bit on edge around her and we don’t need that.”

Morgan nods. “I know. Don’t worry, JJ, from the minute Emily is announced as winner we’ll have her ass covered.”

“I know.” JJ thinks a minute then grins. “What if Spence wins?”

Morgan snorts. “You really think that’s a possibility?”

JJ shrugs. “I don’t know. I do know I’ve never known Emily to bet on anything she wasn’t 100% sure of.”

Morgan frowns. Come to think of it…he knew the same thing. He has a bad feeling he may have taken a sucker bet. But Reid? Singing? And performing? No way…probably.

“Shit…I hate losing bets,” he mumbles.

JJ just grins. Morgan and a somewhat tired, but happy, JJ head to The Nightingale to talk to Beamer. They are happy to find him alone in the bar; less chance for anyone to overhear the plan.

“Mr. Beamer, we have two agents entering your contest tonight. They will both sing ‘I Love Rock and Roll’,” JJ explains. “Whichever one does it the best, gets the crowd the most fired up, needs to be declared the winner.”

He frowns. “What if they suck? The killer will know it’s a set up and maybe come after me!” He is very obviously nervous.

Morgan takes over. “Mr. Beamer, in addition to the two agents performing, Agent Jareau and I will be here acting as a couple. There will be two other FBI agents and an agent from NCIS also.” JJ inwardly groans, knowing Mack most likely would insist on being there that night. “I promise you, Mr. Beamer, you and your restaurant will be okay. But it is also very, very important that you do not tell anyone about the set up tonight. We will be setting our two agents up in safe-houses where we will be able to hopefully draw the unsub to and catch him. If all goes well, the killings end this weekend and you get hailed as a hero.”

“A hero? Really?” he says brightening.

Morgan nods. “Yes, sir.”

Beamer thinks about it a minute then nods. “Yeah, okay. As long as you’re sure no one here can get hurt.”

“We’re sure,” JJ assures him.

As the agents go to leave, a figure steps into the room across from Beamer’s office. He had heard everything…and he is not happy. If it is to end this weekend, it is to end on his terms, not the FBI’s.

* * *

 

Emily glances at her watch. She and Reid had been pouring over the backgrounds of the restaurant employees all day and making notes of anyone they might want to keep an eye on. They had also become experts on the winner who had won multiple times with the target song. At 2:30, Emily sighs.

“I need to take a break. I need to call Declan and let him know we’re going to be stuck down here this weekend.”

Reid smiles. “You guys are having fun getting to know him, aren’t you?”

Emily nods. “He’s a really good kid, Reid. Smart and well adjusted. Tom did a great job raising him.”

“Why did you pick Tom?” Reid asks.

Emily chuckles. “We were at Yale together. He was an orphan, scholarship case. I wished I was an orphan but I wasn’t and I sure as heck wasn’t a scholarship situation. But any time I could avoid going home I did. We bonded over a lot of shared holidays. We just…connected.”

“Was he in love with you?”

“No. He knew from the start I was a lesbian. He didn’t care because I didn’t care about his lack of family or money. He was always a really nice guy. I still can’t believe he never married.” She moves to the bed to stretch out a bit. “When I figured who Declan was and what I would have to do, Tom was the first person I thought of.”

“He had no family to be held over him,” Reid immediately understands.

“Exactly. We never dated. We had lost contact after graduation but I knew he was someone I could trust to keep Declan and Louise safe. And he did. Now…now it’s my turn to keep him and Declan safe.”

“That’s great, Em. It really is incredible what you did back then to save a little boy.”

Emily smiles. “He saved me first. Seemed like an even trade to me.”

Reid nods as Emily hits the memory dial for Declan’s dorm.

“Yo!” a young voice answers.

Emily chuckles. “Declan Colter, please.”

“Sure. Just a sec. YO! DECKCHAIR! PHONE!”

Emily had to hold her phone away from her ear because whoever had answered had screamed into the handset. Even across the room Reid had heard. A second later she hears a muffled.

“I think it’s your girlfriend, Deckchair.”

“Shut up, Matt.” Then into the phone. “Hello?”

“Hi, Dec, it’s Emily.”

“Hi. Are you—Matt, go away! Geez, are you a three year old or what?” After a pause he comes back on the line. “Sorry, Emily. Resident pest is acting up.”

Emily chuckles. “So I hear. Uh, is it okay that he calls you ‘Deckchair’?”

Declan laughs. “I could be called worse, right? Besides, my teammates call me Hammer and that’s what most people call me, too. I know Matt’s just jealous of me.”

Emily nods. “Well, good. Look, Hammer,” Dec chuckles, “I hate to tell you this but we’re stuck down in Norfolk on this case. We’re going to miss your game today. But if you want to get away from school for the weekend we’ve gotten the paperwork filed so you can go home with Francesca. It’s up to you.”

“Sucks that you’ll miss my game. But it’s actually kind of good you won’t be in town. I have study group for math on Sunday again and I need to work with my science partner tomorrow on the experiment we have to do this whole month. I was feeling bad I wouldn’t see you all.” He chuckles. “Now I can just blame your job and not feel bad.”

Emily laughs. “Well, if that gets you through the day, go for it.”

They chat a few more minutes about school and Tom. Finally Dec has to go for his pre-game team meeting. When Emily hangs up she sees Reid grinning at her.

“What?”

“He may not be your son but you’re still a good mother to him.”

Emily blushes. “Thanks. I still credit JJ and Sandy with any mothering skills I have at all. I learned from the best. And thankfully they are teaching my mother, too.”

Reid laughs. Before he can comment on anything else, his phone rings. “Hey, Hotch.” He listens. “Okay.” He nods as he listens. “Good idea. Okay, I’ll let Emily know and we’ll get packed up to make the move.” He listens again. “Right, we’ll let you know. Bye.”

He looks at Emily. “Garcia is emailing us our temporary housing info. I’ll be in a house, you’ll be in an apartment. Hotch also wants us to rent cars so we don’t have to show up in the SUV’s. That might give us away,” he says jokingly.

Emily rolls her eyes. “You think?”

“Right. So, he’s got those booked and Enterprise is on their way to pick us up. We’ll go ahead and get moved now.” He sighs. “Really wish I had more time to practice with you.”

“You don’t need it, Reid. You will be amazing. Like I told you, I never bet on a loser.”

He gives her his crooked smile. “Thanks. Still scared.”

“I know. Use it to your advantage. You can do it, Reid. Believe that.”

He nods and heads to his room to get his go-bag and outfit for the night.


	12. Chapter 12

At 7 Morgan and JJ make their way to the table Beamer had reserved for them. All the agents were unnerved because neither the employees nor the contestant had raised any red signal flags. At this point, they have to profile the audience by their reactions to the contestants. Not easy to do in a dark room. The unspoken fear is they would not know the unsub until they attacked either Reid or Emily on Sunday.

Hotch makes his way into the bar with Brewster. Whereas Morgan and JJ were up near the front but off to the side so they could see people, Hotch and Brewster would be towards the back to watch people in that area. Morgan sees them come in and whispers it to JJ as if saying sweet nothings in her ear. She giggles as if amused by his words.

“Good. Seen Rossi yet,” she whispers back.

“Not—oh, shit!”

JJ follows his eyes and her mouth drops open. “No way…really?”

Rossi has Garcia on his arm. The profilers know they shouldn’t stare but can’t stop until the earbud in their ears activates.

“Stop staring at them,” Hotch warns.

JJ pretends to lean into Morgan to say something but hits her mike. “Sorry. Just a shock. So, we know your ear is working. Rossi you with us?”

“We’re both here, JJ.”

“Alright, check over,” Hotch states. “Keep an eye on the crowd, especially when Reid and Emily perform. Or anyone else who might sing that song.”

At exactly 8 p.m. the emcee for the night comes out and starts to get the crowd pumped. Backstage, Reid looks green.

“I’m going to be sick,” he says.

Emily smiles at him. “You’ll be fine, Reid. You look hot and you will be great! JJ even promised to video you so you can show Traina if you want.”

Reid shakes his head. “I really didn’t need to know that.”

Emily chuckles. “Reid, let me try a different tactic here.” She lifts his chin and looks into his eye. “Cause me to lose a bet to Morgan and I will make your life a living hell. Got it?”

He stares at her then starts to laugh. “Scarily I think that was better motivation than the nice things you said.”

Emily gives him a hug. “Whatever works, handsome.” She checks him over. Black, peg leg jeans with black socks (yes, both socks were black) with black penny loafers. A white tee shirt with black leather vest. His hair done with a spiky look to it. And he had even allowed her to use black eyeliner to give him a real rock look. In some ways he was still Reid but she had seen him perform the song. Looking like he does, if he can pull off the performance he wouldn’t need a fix to win. “You are going to knock ’em dead, Reid.”

“Great. Just what an agent wants to hear.”

Emily laughs and the two split up lest anyone think they look too friendly for strangers. Emily was going to be the fifth performer of the night. Reid would be tenth. To their surprise, the man that had won several times with the song was also performing. When he saw two other contestant singing “his” song, he had chosen another one. Emily decides to try to talk with him.

“Uh, hi. Just wanted to say good luck and, well, sorry about the song,” she says coyly. “I hear you do it a lot.”

He nods, clearly agitated. “Yeah. It’s my song. But whatever, you know. Not like I need to sing that one to win.”

“Uh, right. I swear, if I knew another one I’d have switched.”

He glances at her and shrugs dismissively. “Again…whatever.”

“ _Hard nut to crack_ ,” Emily thinks to herself. “So, how many songs do you have ready to—”

“Look, lady, I don’t chat before the competition. See me after and I’ll buy you a drink if you don’t beat me. Got it?”

“Right. Sure.” She moves off, knowing he was definitely a jerk but she doesn’t think he is the unsub. But since she had no facts to base that on she would keep an eye on him anyway. Almost before she is ready, Emily hears the emcee get up to announce her.

“And now, ladies and gentleman, we have a sweet young thing new to the area looking to cause a splash in her new hometown. Well, if she performs this song half as hot as she looks she’ll at least cause a RIOT!” The crowd cheers at that sentiment. “Give a big hand to Andrea Dupois singing Joan Jett’s ‘I Love Rock and Roll’!”

The crowd claps as Emily walks on stage. After the way they had spent their evening, JJ had never had a chance to see what Emily had bought to wear. Her mouth drops open and she feels a stirring down below as Emily walks on stage. She wears her own combat boots, tight, low slung black leather pants, and a red leather vest…with nothing under it. Even Morgan is looking at his best friend in a new way. A way that would get him shot if JJ could read his mind.

As the familiar first guitar chords start, Emily purses her bright red lips and blows a kiss at a couple military guys in the front row. They howl, raising their beers up to her. The entire BAU team is impressed as she vamps it all over the stage, her vocal definitely strong enough to make Joan proud. By the end she has the entire audience clapping and singing along. She gets to the final three chorus repeats and locks eyes with JJ.

_I love rock n' roll_   
_So put another dime in the jukebox, baby_   
_I love rock n' roll_   
_So come an' take your time an' dance with me_

_She steps off the stage and walks right up to Morgan and JJ’s table. She crooks her finger at JJ._

_I love rock n' roll_   
_So put another dime in the jukebox, baby_   
_I love rock n' roll_   
_So come an' take your time an' dance with me_

As JJ, mesmerized, stands…Emily drops into her chair…

_I love rock n' roll_   
_So put another dime in the jukebox, baby_   
_I love rock n' roll_   
_So come an' take your time an' dance with me._

… and plants a kiss on Morgan’s cheek. The crowd goes crazy as the song ends at that moment. Emily stands and gives the crowd a wave. She shakes JJ’s hand and makes sure the mike picks up her words.

“Sorry, miss. Please don’t be offended. You two look strong enough to take a subtle flirt from a singer.”

JJ winks, “No problem. I trust my lover implicitly.”

Emily nods and heads backstage to thunderous applause. Reid sees her walk over to the dressing area.

“You suck, you know that right,” he teases.

She grins. “I still think you’re going to beat me, Reid. That’s why I had to pull that move at the end.”

“Hmph. We’ll see.”

He moves away again. She heads back to the area reserved for women to check her makeup and get a bottle of water. She also needed to put in her earbud now that there was no chance for it to cause feedback.

Once she is touched up and cooled down a bit, she walks back out of the room…and is punched in the face. She falls back into the room. Stunned from the initial blow she never even gets a hand up as something hits her in the back of the head.

She drops to the ground unconscious at the feet of the unsub.


	13. Chapter 13

Her attacker quickly binds her hands and feet. Lifting her up over his shoulder he walks to a small panel on the right wall of the room. He eases it open and slides Emily inside. Hitting a button hidden by a coat rack, he sends the old, forgotten dumbwaiter to the basement.

He has just gotten the dumbwaiter closed and concealed behind another coat rack when he hears someone coming. He goes and pretends to be tending to the drinks when one of the other contestants comes in.

“Hey, Hank.”

He smiles. “Hey, Melinda. I didn’t miss your performance, did I?”

“Nope. Ah, great! You remembered my Evian!”

He smiles at her. “Yep.”

She pats his arm. “You always take such good care of us contestants.”

He smiles, thinking of the woman he had just sent to the basement. “Yes, yes I do. I make sure you always get what you deserve.”

As he walks out he sees the object of his desire across the room. He blows a kiss at Malcolm. Someday he would know just how much Hank had done to preserve his reign as the king of the contest.

Hank heads downstairs. He needed to secure the first cheater before he took the second one. Both the agents would die tonight. You can’t win if you aren’t present. And though both singers would still be in the building they would be in no condition to claim their prize. He just had to get them away before they were missed and the search started. He didn’t want Cody to get in trouble. His big brother had always taken care of him. The least he could do was kill the bitch and the bastard somewhere else.

* * *

 

After the seventh contestant, JJ keys her mike. “Emily? You with us yet?” No answer. “Hotch, Rossi, you reading me?”

“I hear you,” Hotch says.

“Me, too,” Rossi responds.

“Prentiss, are you live yet?” Hotch asks. He waits a second. “If you can hear us we can’t hear you. Come to the edge of the stage so we know you can hear us.”

The team watches the area for a few minutes but she doesn’t appear. JJ exchanges a glance with Morgan.

“Morgan…she knew to put it in right away. What’s going on?”

His eyes are nervous but he tries to hope for the best. “Maybe there is interference back there we didn’t expect.”

“Maybe. I’ll try to get back there.”

“How are you going to do that?”

She smiles. “A guy is watching the hallway. Trust me: I can get back there.”

“You even squeak and I’ll be back there, understood?”

“Understood.” She keys her mike to leave it live. “Guys, I’m going to get backstage and see what’s going on.”

“Careful, JJ.”

“Always, Hotch.”

She makes her way to the man guarding the hallway for the contestants. “Um, hi. Please help me?” She grins at him, thrusting her chest out suggestively. “I’ve got to, you know…tinkle. And the ladies is sooo packed. I know there’s a bathroom back there for contestants.” She strokes a finger down his chest and winks. “I’d really… _appreciate_  it if I could sneak back there and use it.”

The man stares at the hot blonde. Mostly at her chest. Finally he nods. “Go on. But hurry back out. I’d hate to have to come… _find_  you,” he says, his voice suggesting that he would love to come “find” her.

She winks. “I’ll do my best, sugar.”

She hurries past him and mutters. “Oh, God, I need a shower now.”

The agents listening in chuckle. She sees Reid and catches his eye, heading to a dark area of the backroom.

“Where’s Emily?”

“She went back to the women’s dressing area. Head straight back and take a right. Second door on the left.

“Right. Hey, good luck, Spence.” She steps back and looks him up and down. Her eyes widen. “Damn! Spence, you look…hot!”

He smiles. “Thanks. Tell Em I’ll do my best not to let her lose her bet.”

JJ smiles. “I will.”

She heads back the way Reid had said. As she walks into the room she sees Emily’s things. She goes over and looks through her purse. She finds the empty case for the earbud.

“Not good. Guys, are you reading me?” she prays no one answers.

“Loud and clear, Jayje,” Morgan answers.

“Gotcha,” Rossi answers.

“Us, too,” Hotch responds. “What are you seeing, JJ?”

“I’m seeing her stuff but no Emily. She must have her earbud with her because the box for it is here. I’m going to look around some more. She may be following or talking to a suspect. I’ll be in touch.”

“We’ve got your back, JJ. But be careful. It will take a while to get to you if you run into trouble,” Hotch cautions.

“I know, Hotch. No plans to turn off my mike. And I know when to run like hell. Promise.”

JJ searches all over the backstage area. Surprisingly no one stops to question why she is there. She even goes into the kitchen. Emily is absolutely no where to be found.

“Guys, she’s not back here,” she says nervously.

“Reid is about to perform. Get to where you can keep an eye on him,” Hotch orders. “If the unsub broke pattern to grab Emily he may try for Reid, too.”

“You know…there is not one damn thing comforting about what you’ve said,” JJ points out. “I’ll get where I can see him. Let me know if Emily appears out there. Please.”

“Will do.”

JJ makes her way into a shadowy corner that gives her a direct view of the stage. She has to admit…Reid is awesome!

“Who the hell are you and what have you done with our Spence?” she mutters proudly.

* * *

 

Reid had been anxiously awaiting Emily’s return and her last second words of encouragement. When she doesn’t appear, he convinces himself it is because she knows he can do this on his own.

“String theory…string theory…string theory…string theory,” he keeps repeating just under his breath.

Nearby, Malcolm sees him and rolls his eyes. He’d seen and heard a lot of weird pre-performance rituals but this guy’s mantra takes the cake. “ _This guy is going to be easy to beat_ ,” Malcolm thinks conceitedly.

The emcee has got the crowd cheering. “So, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Derek Hotchner!”

Across the restaurant, Morgan and Hotch exchange looks and start to laugh.

“Good one, pretty boy,” Morgan mumbles as he claps for Reid.

As the familiar strains of the song start once again, the crowd is just as rambunctious as they were for Emily. It truly is a crowd favorite. The BAU team stares in wonder as Reid struts out onto the stage as if he owns it. He may be singing Joan Jett but he is performing as Mick Jagger.

“Okay, you can strut but can you—”

Morgan’s whispered question is stopped as Reid begins:

_I saw her dancin' there by the record machine_   
_I knew she must a been about seventeen_   
_The beat was goin' strong_   
_Playin' my favorite song_   
_An' I could tell it wouldn't be long_   
_Till she was with me, yeah me_   
_And I could tell it wouldn't be long_   
_Till she was with me, yeah me, singin'_

_I love rock n' roll_   
_So put another dime in the jukebox, baby_   
_I love rock n' roll_   
_So come and take your time and dance with me_

“Holy shit! He’s…he’s good!” Morgan says, stunned.

Hotch is just as amazed. From where he sits he can see Rossi and Garcia who also look stunned. Garcia is up and dancing, waving her hands as if at a rock concert as Reid owns the stage. The crowd is going crazy. Based on the reactions to the two agents, there may be no need to fix the outcome. They could potentially win the contest on their own merit.

As he leaves the stage to thunderous applause, JJ watches him from the shadows. No one seems to be watching him as he heads back towards the men’s dressing room to get his earbud and clutch piece. JJ watches as one of the bartenders carries a tub of drinks into the same room. A few minutes later the man leaves but Reid still hasn’t appeared.

“Reid? You live yet?” She asks. No answer. “Reid? Shit.”

JJ makes her way to the dressing room Reid had gone into. The genius is gone.

“Son of a bitch! Guys, he’s gone! Get your asses back here!” JJ starts to look the entire room over. “Shit, shit, shit…he has to be in here or there has to be another fucking exit. What the fuck,” she mutters to herself as she starts to check every inch of wall space for some sort of hidden door or closet.

In the restaurant, the entire team had leapt to their feet and moved towards the entertainer’s hallway. Hotch holds up his creds to the bouncer.

“Let us back.”

The man studies the badge a second and then nods. The team jogs down the long hallway.

“JJ, where are you?”

“End of the hall, take a right, first door on the left. You’ll hear me banging.”

As the team turns the corner, a flicker of light beyond the hallway catches Mack Brewster’s eye. There is a large box and what look to be old speakers stacked in a corner. But she is pretty sure she saw a light back there. Ignoring the FBI agents she heads that way and finds a door hidden behind the debris. She considers letting them know…but only briefly.

“If Prentiss is down here she’ll   _hate_   that I’m the one that saves her sorry ass,” she whispers to herself.

Smiling smugly, she eases the door open and sees a stairwell lit by a single bulb hanging from a chain. Pulling her gun, she starts carefully down the stairwell. Cobwebs on the walls and footprints in dust tell her it isn’t used very often. As she gets to the basement, she sees 4 doors lining a dark hallway. Only one door has light under it. She makes her way to that door and presses her ear to it. Hearing nothing she tries the handle and finds it unlocked. She takes a breath and throws it open, her gun sweeping the room.

“Prentiss!” she says triumphantly.

She steps in quickly…and is struck from behind. She crashes to the ground. She tries to sits up but is hit once more. Though not out she is dazed enough to be useless as her feet and hands are bound. Duct tape is slapped across her mouth. The light in the room is turned off and the door is shut and locked.

“ _Well, fuck_ ,” she thinks to herself.


	14. Chapter 14

As the team enters the room they see JJ pulling a large free-standing closet away from the wall. She looks at her team.

“HELP! There’s something back here!”

Morgan and Hotch grab the bulky piece of furniture and help JJ move it away from the wall. Behind it she yanks on a panel and opens up an old dumbwaiter. She looks down and up in the dark shaft.

“Shit! I can’t see where it is. But this has to be how he got Reid out of here.”

Hotch looks at Rossi. “Check the women’s dressing area.”

“No need,” JJ says. “It’s the next room and I can see light around the door on the opposite side of the shaft. He would have used this same one for Emily. That’s why Reid never saw her.”

Hotch looks at Rossi. “Get Cody Beamer. Now.”

Rossi nods and heads out. Hotch glances around.

“Where the hell is Brewster?” He keys his mike. “Garcia, is Brewster back out with you?”

“No, sir. Still no Reid or Emily, either, sir,” she answers nervously.

“Okay. Let us know if that changes.”

“Someone followed Reid in here, Hotch. Shit, I should have taken his picture. He was carrying that tub of drinks but I know he was not among the pictures of staff we saw. Fuck me, I should have realized that!” She runs her hands through her hair in anger at herself.

“JJ, there will be time for self-recrimination later. Right now we have two agents to find,” Hotch cautions her. She just nods.

A few minutes later, Rossi returns with the bar owner. Hotch points at the dumbwaiter.

“Where does that go and how do we get there?”

Beamer stares at it. “I…I have no idea. I didn’t know it was there.” He thinks a minute. “I think the kitchens in this place used to be downstairs. There are some old rooms and stuff. Don’t really mess with anything down there except to store seasonal stuff.”

JJ had been studying the man in front of them. In her mind she pictures the man who had entered and exited the room. “You’re related to him,” she suddenly blurts out.

He looks at her in confusion. “What?”

“A man brought drinks in here and Reid vanished. He looks like you and you didn’t give us his info with the other employees. He’s your brother or cousin or something, isn’t he?”

Beamer thinks a second. “You mean Hank? He’s my younger brother. And of course I didn’t give you his info because he wouldn’t hurt anyone. He…he just wouldn’t.”

JJ steps closer to him. “Did he bring the drinks in here?”

Beamer nods. “Well, yeah, but—”

Hotch steps in front of JJ before she loses her shit on the man in front of them. Obviously Beamer truly didn’t believe his brother capable of murder. But Hank was now their number one suspect.

“How do we get downstairs?”

Beamer points. “Uh, this way.”

He leads them back towards the stage but turns right away from it. Behind a bunch of old speakers he points to a door.

“That will take you down to the lower levels. There are like 6 rooms or so. I don’t really know. Hank always deals with the stuff down there.”

Hotch nods. “Okay. Stay here. If you see Reid or Emily let them know where we are.”

The man nods as the agents move to the door. They pull their side arms. Hotch does a silent 3 count and then opens the door. Morgan, gun at the ready, starts down the stairs…as a gunshot rings out below. Followed by a second one from a different gun.


	15. Chapter 15

When Emily first comes to she is seeing double. “ _Shit…concussion_ ,” she realizes. She forces herself up to a seated position. Her hands are bound behind her and duct tape is wrapped around her ankles. She studies the room she is in for anything she could use to get the tape off her mouth or her ankles.

“ _Nothing. Where the fuck am I_?”

After a second she realizes she can hear her team on her earbud. “ _Okay. Good. If I can get the tape off my mouth and the bud out of my ear I can use its mike and get help. Or course we’re back to the whole problem of having no idea where I am_.”

On the wall she can see some shelves. From her position, she can’t see what is on them. She scoots over to the wall and uses her feet to start to push herself to a standing position. Once up she can hop to the shelves and see if there is anything on them to help free herself. As she gets to her feet, she gets extremely dizzy. She forces herself to breathe deeply through her nose. If she gets too queasy and throws up the tape on her mouth could mean her death.

She finally straightens up enough to look at the shelves from afar. But she is still suffering double vision so she isn’t sure what is on them. She knows she has to get closer. She takes a couple of hops towards the shelves. Unfortunately, her concussion is worse than she knows. Dizziness overpowers her and she crashes back down to the ground. She moans.

“ _Fuck, fuck, fuck. There has got to be a way to- -”_

Her thoughts stop as she hears the unmistakable sound of someone testing the doorknob. She squints as the door opens, trying to will her eyes to clear enough to see who is coming in.

“ _Brewster_?” she thinks.

Then she sees the hulking figure behind the agent. Emily grunts a warning but it’s too late. She watches as Mack is hit twice, then bound and gagged the same way Emily is. The man just glances at Emily before turning off the light and leaving. Emily scoots towards the other agent. She rolls over and gets her hands near Mack’s mouth. Without warning, Emily rips off Mack’s gag.

“FUCK! Well, that woke me all the way up,” Mack grumbles. Emily just rolls her eyes. “Get your mouth near my hands.” Mack tells Emily as she rolls over.

But Emily has a better idea. She pushes herself up until her fingers are at the tape around Mack’s wrist. Mack is confused at first but then realizes what Emily is doing.

“Great! Keep working it, Prentiss. You can do it.”

Emily rolls her eyes again. The last thing she needs is a cheerleader. Finally Emily feels the tape starting to give. One of the frustrating things about duct tape is its ability to slice itself into very thin strips. Emily gets the edge up and starts to peel…and it splits so that she is peeling back only about a centimeter wide strip. But it’s better than nothing so she keeps peeling until it is gone.

Taking a deep breath, she starts to pull at the tape again. This time she manages to get the rest of it peeled up. She finally gets enough unwound that Mack is able to get her hands pulled apart.

“Good girl, Prentiss!”

Emily growls at the insulting thank you. Mack doesn’t notice. She quickly undoes her legs and starts to work on Emily’s bindings. She doesn’t get far when the door opens once more. As the light flicks on the two agents blink at the sudden assault on their eyes. They hear something hit the ground.

“NO!” a man hollers.

The man steps into the room and grabs Mack. The agent tries to fight him but her early head injuries slow her down. He manages to get both arms around her. He lifts her up and slams her into the ground. Emily winces as she sees Mack’s head bounce off the concrete floor. The NCIS agent doesn’t move again as Hank rebinds her arms and legs before wrapping duct tape all around her head this time to make it harder to get off.

Emily stares at him in fear, wondering what he is going to do to her. He just moves back to the door. It is then that Emily realizes that the thing that fell when the door opened…was Reid.

“ _NO! No, no, no, no…please be okay, Reid. Please_.”

Their captor looks down at his three prisoners. He then turns and heads out again. He leaves the lights on this time, sure that Emily had learned her lesson from seeing Mack get beaten. All Emily really learned was they had to get out soon or they were dead.

“ _Who the fuck is that guy? And, again, where the fuck are we? Shit_.”

She scoots over to Reid and nudges him with her shoulder. He just moans. She sighs and looks up towards the shelves.

“ _Suck it up and deal, Prentiss. Get up there and see what you can find_.”

She scoots back to the wall and carefully pushes herself back to her feet. As she does she cusses as something cuts her leg even through the leather pants. She looks down, fighting the vertigo that hits her and stares at the wall. A rusty, jagged nail sticks out of the wall.

“ _Well, if it can cut my leg it can cut tape, right?”_  she reasons.

She eases down into a somewhat uncomfortable position and starts to saw her wrists against the nail. She winces as she cuts skin a few times but feels the tape starting to give. As she saws she pulls her hands apart until finally she is rewarded with the snapping of the tape. She pulls her hands apart, wincing again as she feels some skin go with the tape.

With her hands free, she starts to work on her ankles. Until they are free she can’t reach her clutch piece. As she is nearly free she hears footsteps approaching.

“ _Come on, come on, come on_ ,” she urges as she peels faster.

As soon as she can, she kicks her legs apart, yanks her leather pants leg up and pulls her clutch piece as the door opens. She jumps up and aims it at the “two” men swimming in her vision.

Hank stops for a second but then realizes the gun pointed in his general direction is wavering. The woman in front of him is barely standing. He grins and pulls the .22 he carries for shooting at rats.

It takes Emily a second to register that he is pulling a gun. She fires and a split second later he does, too.

He stumbles out of the room and down the hall, her shot having gotten him in the shoulder.

Emily falls back against the wall.

“ _Rocky…no_ …” she laments as she slides down the wall to the floor.


	16. Chapter 16

Morgan steps into the hall and sees a man leaning against the wall beside an open door. He sees the gun in the man’s hand.

“FBI! DROP THE GUN!”

The man spins to fire but Morgan doesn’t let him. Three shots take the man to the ground. The agents approach him carefully. Morgan kicks the gun away and leans down to check his pulse.

“Clear,” he mutters.

“NO! EMILY!”

JJ’s scream causes him to turn. He sees Emily slumped against the wall, her eyes unfocused.

“GET AN AMBULANCE!” JJ screams. Morgan pulls out his phone and starts dialing. “Emily, sweetheart, can you hear me? Look at me, baby.” She slowly peels the tape from her wife’s mouth. “There. You okay, Emily?”

“J—Jen?”

“I’m here, baby. I’m here. You’re going to be fine, baby.”

“R—Rocky. That bullet…a few inches over…” She turns her head to stare at the bullet hole in the wall right beside where she had been standing.

JJ nods. “Don’t worry, Emily, you are both fine.” She stares into the unfocused yes. “You may have a concussion but you will be okay.”

Hotch had moved to Reid and is getting the young agent’s bonds off. Rossi is freeing Mack, who has a huge hematoma on her forehead and shows no signs of waking. Morgan races upstairs to direct the EMT’s where they will need to go and to get Garcia. JJ is going to need her. Emily’s eyes start to close. JJ pats her cheek.

“Em? Stay with me, honey.”

“I…he…here. Co—concu—ssion. Hurts. Need a nap.”

“I know, baby. I know. But you have to stay awake, Emily. For Rocky. You need to stay awake. For Rocky, Emily. Stay awake for Rocky.”

“What the hell?”

JJ turns and sees Cody Beamer staring down at his brother. He slowly turns and takes in the agents in the small room.

“You…you killed him?” he says in confusion.

Hotch stands up from tending to Reid. “He was ordered to drop his gun. He turned to fire.”

Cody shakes his head. “No…no he wouldn’t…he…he would never…”

Hotch steps towards him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Beamer. He left us no choice.”

Cody kneels down beside his brother. “YOU ASSHOLES!” he screams.

His anger they had expected. The grief for his brother they had expected. They hadn’t expected him to pull his own gun.

“GUN!” Hotch yells as he, Rossi and JJ all pull their weapons. Beamer gets off one shot before being hit by shots from the guns of the three agents. Rossi keeps the man covered as Hotch walks over and checks for a pulse.

“Clear.”

“Jen? Jen, what’s wro--SHIT! HOTCH!”

Hotch spins around and sees the maroon stain spreading down JJ’s blouse. Emily cradles her wife to her.

“Jen, baby, hang in there, baby. Talk to me, Jen. Please, baby, talk to me. Talk to me and Rocky. Please, baby.”

JJ slowly turns her head and looks up at Emily.

“Love…you…”

Her eyes slip closed as Hotch races over. He eases JJ to the ground and pulls off his jacket, pressing it to the wound in her shoulder.

“JJ, stay with us. I know it hurts like hell and your body is going into shock but you’re going to be okay. Do you hear me? You are going to be okay.”

JJ eyes flutter open. She reaches up and takes his hand. “Pro…tect…Em…Rocky…”

He nods. “You know I will.”

From the hallway they hear Morgan. “Right down here. We have—what the fuck?” He says as he sees Cody Beamer. He looks into the room. “JJ!”

Rossi moves to Morgan. “Help me move these bodies. The EMT’s will need to get a gurney down here for JJ, Reid and Mack, maybe Emily, too.”

“Rossi, what the hell happened after I left?”

“Tell you later, Morgan. Go meet the other EMT’s. Make sure they know we need at least three ambulances.” He looks back at Emily. “Something tells me Emily will ride with JJ.”

Morgan nods. “JJ…Cody Beamer shot her?”

“Yeah. Complete clusterfuck. Go.”

They hear the noises that signal Garcia leading the next batch of EMT’s. Rossi takes Morgan’s arm.

“On second thought, I’ll go for the EMT’s. Garcia is going to need you.”

Morgan nods.

“Right down here, guys. Hurry!” Garcia tells the medics with her.

Morgan steps to intercept her. “Baby girl.”

She stares into his eyes. She starts to shake. “Who?”

“JJ got shot. She’s okay but she’s hurting.”

“Oh God! No! What…how…why…?”

“I don’t know, Penelope. But I do know Emily needs attention, too. Can you help me be strong for them?”

Garcia nods, still in shock. She steps to the door of the room in time to see an EMT cutting JJ’s shirt and bra off. She glances in another direction and sees another one checking the cuts on Emily’s hands.

“What the hell happened down here, Morgan?”

The African-American agent sighs. “I wish to hell I knew.”


	17. Chapter 17

“If I fucking have to stay awake why can’t I be in the surgical waiting room? It doesn’t fucking make sense!” Emily bitches.

The charge nurse stares over her glasses at her. “I may not be able to sedate you but I can restrain you. And if you are wondering if I am bitch enough to do it I assure you I am. Now shut your damn mouth, Agent Prentiss, and let me check your vitals!”

If he wasn’t so scared about the rest of his team, Morgan might have laughed. He had finally found a nurse as formidable as Emily Prentiss. Emily stays quiet only because it means the woman leaves sooner. As soon as they are alone she glares at Morgan.

“Get me the hell out of here and up there, Morgan,” she demands.

He walks over and takes her hand. “Emily, as much as I hate to say this, there is nothing you can do in the surgical waiting room.” He points to the machine monitoring her blood pressure. “But here you can keep an eye on that for Rocky’s sake.” She starts to protest but he raises a hand to stop her. “And look me in the eye and tell me what Jennifer would want you to do.”

Emily stares at him. “That’s not fucking fair, Derek,” she whispers.

He nods. “I know. Sometimes the truth isn’t fair, Emily.”

He watches as she starts to tremble, fighting the tears welling in her eyes. He steps closer and pulls her into a hug.

“Let it out, Emily. It’s okay to let it out.”

And she does, sobbing into his shoulder. Crying out her fear that JJ could have been killed. Crying at the thought that one errant shot had missed Rocky by inches. She cries because she hurts. She cries because…

“I’m so fucking scared, Derek.”

He kisses her temple. “I know you, Emily. I know you are.”

* * *

 

Garcia is holding Reid’s hand. He looks at her in confusion. “So…what exactly happened?”

“What is the last thing you remember?”

He frowns. “I…I picked up my earbud. I couldn’t wait to hear what Emily thought of my performance.” He sighs. “I guess she missed it.”

“Yeah, she did. But I didn’t. You were awesome, Reid. You so would have won if you hadn’t gotten snatched…and if the owner of the bar hadn’t been shot trying to avenge his psycho brother.”

Reid smiles. “Maybe. Emily was really good, too.” He looks into Garcia’s eyes. “Can…can you go check on them?”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to be alone.”

“I need to know. Right now I have some really negative stats racing through my head. I need something positive to counter them.”

Garcia smiles and kisses his cheek. “Be back in jiff with the riff.”

He chuckles. “I…I’m not quite sure what that means but okay.”

She heads out to see what news she can find out about their friends.

* * *

 

In the surgical waiting room, Hotch sits in a chair, his elbows on his legs and his face buried in his hands.

“ _When the fuck did the op go all to hell? How the hell did I let it get to that point? What the fuck did I miss?”_

Rossi lays a hand on Hotch’s head. “I can guess what you’re saying to yourself. There is nothing any of us could have done to predict the outcome of this case. It was hell from the start. Seems only right it ends in hell.”

Hotch slowly looks up. “Three of my team down. One NCIS agent down.” He sits back in his chair. “Straus is going to get her wish. My ass is going to get ripped for this one.”

Rossi sighs. “I wish I could tell you differently but, yes, I have a feeling they will convene a committee on this one. But, Hotch, you know we will all have your back. This was a solid plan. It just…we got…” he shakes his head. Sometimes there are no words.

“I won’t be surprised if Emily and JJ don’t have my back. They—”

“As soon as I figure out which one of you is the real Aaron Hotchner I’ll kick your ass for that comment,” Emily states from the wheelchair she had been finally approved for.

Hotch looks up. Brown eyes lock with brown. “Emily…I am so sorry.”

“Not your fault, Hotch. The Beamer brothers are to blame. I am okay. Rocky is okay.” She reaches out her hand to take his. “And Jen will be okay. If someone tries to screw you with this case we  _will_ have your back.”

He nods. “Thank you.”

Twenty minutes later Reid and Garcia join them. Emily looks around. “Is anyone with Brewster?”

Rossi raises an eyebrow. “Worried about her?”

Emily sighs. “Only in that she nearly got us out of there. One more minute and maybe this would have ended differently.”

“Her boss is with her. She’s not alone,” Rossi confirms.

Emily looks at Reid. “Sorry I missed your performance.”

He gives her a half smile. “It’s on video.”

Emily nods. “Good. Look forward to seeing it.”

Another excruciating half hour passes before a doctor walks into the waiting room.

“Mrs. Prentiss?”

Without thinking, Emily leaps to her feet. “That’s me---ohhh…”

Morgan and Hotch catch her and put her back in the chair. The doctor races over and checks her pulse.

“Easy, Mrs. Prentiss. Your pulse is a bit elevated. And it looks like you have a concussion.”

“Yeah. But how is my wife?”

He smiles. “She’ll be fine. Bullet hit her collar bone and ricocheted up and out creating some tearing under and through her skin. We cleaned out the bone chips; what’s left is cracked though not completely broken. She will need a sling for a couple of weeks. No heavy lifting, no acrobatics, but she will okay.”

Emily takes his hand, tears in her eyes. “Thank you, Doctor. How soon can I see her?”

“She’s being moved to a private room now.” He looks Emily over. “I think I’ll order another bed in there for you. It will help her to rest if she knows you’re taking care of yourself, too.”

Emily nods. “Whatever you think is best for her.”

He pats Emily’s knee. “Good answer. Wait here. I’ll have a nurse come get you.”

“Thanks.”

As he leaves, Emily drops her face into her hands. “Oh, thank God.” She takes a deep breath. “I need to call Sandy and Alan. They need to know what happened.”

Garcia steps towards her. “Uh, already done. They are on their way. I couldn’t convince them to wait for word.”

Emily manages a smile. “Thanks, Pen.”

* * *

 

Fifteen minutes later Emily strokes a hand down JJ’s cheek. “Hi, baby.” She leans over and gives her a kiss. “I love you, Jennifer Prentiss. You took that bullet for Rocky and me. I won’t ever forget that. You are so brave, baby. I love you so much.”

She kisses her once more. It is well past midnight. Exhaustion finally starts to catch up to Emily. Rossi and Morgan had shoved the two beds together and dropped the rails between them. Emily now climbs up on her side of the bed. She takes JJ’s good hand in hers and kisses it. She stares at her wife, knowing she shouldn’t sleep herself with a concussion. She strokes a hand through JJ’s hair.

“I could have lost you and Rocky today, Jen. I…I don’t know what I would have done if I had. I love you so much, Jennifer Andrea Jareau Prentiss. You just rest up for now, okay? Rest up and you’ll be good as new before you know it.” She buries her face in JJ’s shoulder. “God, I love you so much, Jen. I was so fucking scared.”

Finally Emily can fight sleep no longer. Breathing in the scent of her wife she drifts off to sleep.

From the doorway, Mack Brewster stares at the two women. She still didn’t like Emily Prentiss but she had to admit she was a damn good agent. She also seemed to be really in love with JJ. And Jennifer Jareau Prentiss, pale from blood loss or not, is still a gorgeous woman. Who knows…

“Maybe next time, Jennifer,” she whispers. “See you around, Prentiss. We’ll call this one a tie.”

She turns and walks down the hall and out of their lives…for now. At the end of the hallway she runs into Hotch and Rossi.

“Well, Agents, I’d say we have a butt load of paperwork ahead of us but at least this bastard is stopped.”

Hotch nods. “No thanks to you. You were here as part of a team. That meant telling us before heading off to try to find Prentiss on your own. You wanted to be able to hold it over her head that you saved her and instead you nearly got yourself killed along with my 2 agents. Trust me when I say your negligent actions will be front and center of my report.”

Mack is furious. “I was trying to SAVE her!”

“No, you were trying to _best_ her. You are reckless, immature, and you don’t know how to work with others. You are a detriment to NCIS and I will make sure everyone knows it.” Hotch pushes past her, ignoring the insults she hurls at his back.

As the two FBI agents get down the hall, Rossi looks at Hotch. “Well said, Aaron.”

“Thanks,” Hotch mumbles. “Wish I could say it made me feel better to dress her down. But until JJ wakes up and I really know she’s okay nothing will help me.”

They meet up with Morgan, Reid and Garcia outside of JJ’s room. Hotch nods to Morgan and walks down the hall a ways with him.

“Straus just let me know that come Monday I’ll be suspended pending an investigation of this case.”

“Hotch, that’s fucked!” Morgan gripes.

“I know. Get’s worse. Right now there is a committee meeting to decide the future of this unit. Three FBI agents injured, an agent from another agency hurt, and two dead suspects.”

“So wait…you’re telling me they could disband us because of one bad case?”

Hotch nods. “Yes. Not to mention take our credentials.”

Morgan shakes his head. “That’s not right, Hotch. How the hell could any of us have known to watch for Hank when Cody didn’t tell us about him?”

“I know, Morgan. That’s one of the things they will look at. If they don’t suspend all of us, you’re in charge again. And if they fire me, the unit is yours. That’s already set.”

“I don’t want it, Aaron.”

Hotch gives him a small smile. “And I don’t want to lose my job. But this is what we’re facing, Derek. I wanted to keep you in the loop.”

Morgan just nods. Hotch claps him on the shoulder and continues on. Right now he just couldn’t be around his team.

Down the hall, the others watch him go. Garcia may not be a profiler but even she can see that neither Morgan nor Hotch was happy. And they all knew that didn’t bode well for their team.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Imelda Marcos, Aileen Wuornos, Ethel Rosenberg, and Diane Downs---all notoriously bad women for varying reasons. It has to be hard for profilers to come up with baby names. :o)


End file.
